GNT: The Good News Translation | GNB: The Good News Bible
[10:1] After Abimelech's death Tola, the son of Puah and grandson of Dodo, came to free Israel. He was from the tribe of Issachar and lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.
[10:2] He was Israel's leader for twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir.
[10:3] After Tola came Jair from Gilead. He led Israel for twenty-two years.
[10:4] He had thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys. They had thirty cities in the land of Gilead, which are still called the villages of Jair.
[10:5] Jair died and was buried at Kamon.
[10:6] Once again the Israelites sinned against the Lord by worshiping the Baals and the Astartes, as well as the gods of Syria, of Sidon, of Moab, of Ammon, and of Philistia. They abandoned the Lord and stopped worshiping him.
[10:7] So the Lord became angry with the Israelites, and let the Philistines and the Ammonites conquer them.
[10:8] For eighteen years they oppressed and persecuted all the Israelites who lived in Amorite country east of the Jordan River in Gilead.
[10:9] The Ammonites even crossed the Jordan to fight the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. Israel was in great distress.
[10:10] Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord and said, “We have sinned against you, for we left you, our God, and worshiped the Baals.”
[10:11] The Lord gave them this answer: “The Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,
[10:12] the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites oppressed you in the past, and you cried out to me. Did I not save you from them?
[10:13] But you still left me and worshiped other gods, so I am not going to rescue you again.
[10:14] Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them rescue you when you get in trouble.”
[10:15] But the people of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do whatever you like, but please, save us today.”
[10:16] So they got rid of their foreign gods and worshiped the Lord; and he became troubled over Israel's distress.
[10:17] Then the Ammonite army prepared for battle and camped in Gilead. The people of Israel came together and camped at Mizpah in Gilead.
[10:18] There the people and the leaders of the Israelite tribes asked one another, “Who will lead the fight against the Ammonites? Whoever does will be the leader of everyone in Gilead.”
[11:1] Jephthah, a brave soldier from Gilead, was the son of a prostitute. His father Gilead
[11:2] had other sons by his wife, and when they grew up, they forced Jephthah to leave home. They told him, “You will not inherit anything from our father; you are the son of another woman.”
[11:3] Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. There he attracted a group of worthless men, and they went around with him.
[11:4] It was some time later that the Ammonites went to war against Israel.
[11:5] When this happened, the leaders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob.
[11:6] They told him, “Come and lead us, so that we can fight the Ammonites.”
[11:7] But Jephthah answered, “You hated me so much that you forced me to leave my father's house. Why come to me now that you're in trouble?”
[11:8] They said to Jephthah, “We are turning to you now because we want you to go with us and fight the Ammonites and lead all the people of Gilead.”
[11:9] Jephthah said to them, “If you take me back home to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives me victory, I will be your ruler.”
[11:10] They replied, “We agree. The Lord is our witness.”
[11:11] So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead, and the people made him their ruler and leader. Jephthah stated his terms at Mizpah in the presence of the Lord.
[11:12] Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon to say, “What is your quarrel with us? Why have you invaded our country?”
[11:13] The king of Ammon answered Jephthah's messengers, “When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and the Jordan River. Now you must give it back peacefully.”
[11:14] Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of Ammon
[11:15] with this answer: “It is not true that Israel took away the land of Moab or the land of Ammon.
[11:16] This is what happened: when the Israelites left Egypt, they went through the desert to the Gulf of Aqaba and came to Kadesh.
[11:17] Then they sent messengers to the king of Edom to ask permission to go through his land. But the king of Edom would not let them. They also asked the king of Moab, but neither would he let them go through his land. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh.
[11:18] Then they went on through the desert, going around the land of Edom and the land of Moab until they came to the east side of Moab, on the other side of the Arnon River. They camped there, but they did not cross the Arnon because it was the boundary of Moab.
[11:19] Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, and asked him for permission to go through his country to their own land.
[11:20] But Sihon would not let Israel do it. He brought his whole army together, camped at Jahaz, and attacked Israel.
[11:21] But the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the Israelites victory over Sihon and his army. So the Israelites took possession of all the territory of the Amorites who lived in that country.
[11:22] They occupied all the Amorite territory from the Arnon in the south to the Jabbok in the north and from the desert on the east to the Jordan on the west.
[11:23] So it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who drove out the Amorites for his people, the Israelites.
[11:24] Are you going to try to take it back? You can keep whatever your god Chemosh has given you. But we are going to keep everything that the Lord, our God, has taken for us.
[11:25] Do you think you are any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? He never challenged Israel, did he? Did he ever go to war against us?
[11:26] For three hundred years Israel has occupied Heshbon and Aroer, and the towns around them, and all the cities on the banks of the Arnon River. Why haven't you taken them back in all this time?
[11:27] No, I have not done you any wrong. You are doing wrong by making war on me. The Lord is the judge. He will decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”
[11:28] But the king of Ammon paid no attention to this message from Jephthah.
[11:29] Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. He went through Gilead and Manasseh and returned to Mizpah in Gilead and went on to Ammon.
[11:30] Jephthah promised the Lord: “If you will give me victory over the Ammonites,
[11:31] I will burn as an offering the first person that comes out of my house to meet me, when I come back from the victory. I will offer that person to you as a sacrifice.”
[11:32] So Jephthah crossed the river to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him victory.
[11:33] He struck at them from Aroer to the area around Minnith, twenty cities in all, and as far as Abel Keramim. There was a great slaughter, and the Ammonites were defeated by Israel.
[11:34] When Jephthah went back home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him, dancing and playing the tambourine. She was his only child.
[11:35] When he saw her, he tore his clothes in sorrow and said, “Oh, my daughter! You are breaking my heart! Why must it be you that causes me pain? I have made a solemn promise to the Lord, and I cannot take it back!”
[11:36] She told him, “If you have made a promise to the Lord, do what you said you would do to me, since the Lord has given you revenge on your enemies, the Ammonites.”
[11:37] But she asked her father, “Do this one thing for me. Leave me alone for two months, so that I can go with my friends to wander in the mountains and grieve that I must die a virgin.”
[11:38] He told her to go and sent her away for two months. She and her friends went up into the mountains and grieved because she was going to die unmarried and childless.
[11:39] After two months she came back to her father. He did what he had promised the Lord, and she died still a virgin. This was the origin of the custom in Israel
[11:40] that the Israelite women would go out for four days every year to grieve for the daughter of Jephthah of Gilead.
[12:1] The men of Ephraim prepared for battle; they crossed the Jordan River to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross the border to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We'll burn the house down over your head!”
[12:2] But Jephthah told them, “My people and I had a serious quarrel with the Ammonites. I did call you, but you would not rescue me from them.
[12:3] When I saw that you were not going to, I risked my life and crossed the border to fight them, and the Lord gave me victory over them. So why are you coming up to fight me now?”
[12:4] Then Jephthah brought all the men of Gilead together, fought the men of Ephraim and defeated them. (The Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites in Ephraim and Manasseh, you are deserters from Ephraim!”)
[12:5] In order to keep the Ephraimites from escaping, the Gileadites captured the places where the Jordan could be crossed. When any Ephraimite who was trying to escape would ask permission to cross, the men of Gilead would ask, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,”
[12:6] they would tell him to say “Shibboleth.” But he would say “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce it correctly. Then they would grab him and kill him there at one of the Jordan River crossings. At that time forty-two thousand of the Ephraimites were killed.
[12:7] Jephthah led Israel for six years. Then he died and was buried in his hometown in Gilead.
[12:8] After Jephthah, Ibzan from Bethlehem led Israel.
[12:9] He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters in marriage outside the clan and brought thirty young women from outside the clan for his sons to marry. Ibzan led Israel for seven years,
[12:10] then he died and was buried at Bethlehem.
[12:11] After Ibzan, Elon from Zebulun led Israel for ten years.
[12:12] Then he died and was buried at Aijalon in the territory of Zebulun.
[12:13] After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel from Pirathon led Israel.
[12:14] He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. Abdon led Israel for eight years,
[12:15] then he died and was buried at Pirathon in the territory of Ephraim in the hill country of the Amalekites.
[13:1] The Israelites sinned against the Lord again, and he let the Philistines rule them for forty years.
[13:2] At that time there was a man named Manoah from the town of Zorah. He was a member of the tribe of Dan. His wife had never been able to have children.
[13:3] The Lord's angel appeared to her and said, “You have never been able to have children, but you will soon be pregnant and have a son.
[13:4] Be sure not to drink any wine or beer, or eat any forbidden food;
[13:5] and after your son is born, you must never cut his hair, because from the day of his birth he will be dedicated to God as a nazirite. He will begin the work of rescuing Israel from the Philistines.”
[13:6] Then the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God has come to me, and he looked as frightening as the angel of God. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name.
[13:7] But he did tell me that I would become pregnant and have a son. He told me not to drink any wine or beer, or eat any forbidden food, because the boy is to be dedicated to God as a nazirite as long as he lives.”
[13:8] Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, let the man of God that you sent come back to us and tell us what we must do with the boy when he is born.”
[13:9] God did what Manoah asked, and his angel came back to the woman while she was sitting in the field. Her husband Manoah was not with her,
[13:10] so she ran at once and told him, “Look! The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me again.”
[13:11] Manoah got up and followed his wife. He went to the man and asked, “Are you the man who talked to my wife?” “Yes,” he answered.
[13:12] Then Manoah said, “Now then, when your words come true, what must the boy do? What kind of a life must he lead?”
[13:13] The Lord's angel answered, “Your wife must be sure to do everything that I have told her.
[13:14] She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine; she must not drink any wine or beer, or eat any forbidden food. She must do everything that I have told her.” But the angel said, “If I do stay, I will not eat your food. But if you want to prepare it, burn it as an offering to the Lord.”
[13:17] Manoah replied, “Tell us your name, so that we can honor you when your words come true.”
[13:18] The angel asked, “Why do you want to know my name? It is a name of wonder.”
[13:19] So Manoah took a young goat and some grain, and offered them on the rock altar to the Lord who works wonders.
[13:22] Manoah said to his wife, “We are sure to die, because we have seen God!”
[13:23] But his wife answered, “If the Lord had wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted our offerings; he would not have shown us all this or told us such things at this time.”
[13:24] The woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The child grew and the Lord blessed him.
[13:25] And the Lord's power began to strengthen him while he was between Zorah and Eshtaol in the Camp of Dan.
[14:1] One day Samson went down to Timnah, where he noticed a certain young Philistine woman.
[14:2] He went back home and told his father and mother, “There is a Philistine woman down at Timnah who caught my attention. Get her for me; I want to marry her.”
[14:3] But his father and mother asked him, “Why do you have to go to those heathen Philistines to get a wife? Can't you find someone in our own clan, among all our people?” But Samson told his father, “She is the one I want you to get for me. I like her.”
[14:4] His parents did not know that it was the Lord who was leading Samson to do this, for the Lord was looking for a chance to fight the Philistines. At this time the Philistines were ruling Israel.
[14:5] So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. As they were going through the vineyards there, he heard a young lion roaring.
[14:6] Suddenly the power of the Lord made Samson strong, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands, as if it were a young goat. But he did not tell his parents what he had done.
[14:7] Then he went and talked to the young woman, and he liked her.
[14:8] A few days later Samson went back to marry her. On the way he left the road to look at the lion he had killed, and he was surprised to find a swarm of bees and some honey inside the dead body.
[14:9] He scraped the honey out into his hands and ate it as he walked along. Then he went to his father and mother and gave them some. They ate it, but Samson did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the dead body of a lion.
[14:10] His father went to the woman's house, and Samson gave a banquet there. This was a custom among the young men.
[14:11] When the Philistines saw him, they sent thirty young men to stay with him. “Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let's hear it.”
[14:14] He said, “Out of the eater came something to eat; Out of the strong came something sweet.” Three days later they had still not figured out what the riddle meant.
[14:15] On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, “Trick your husband into telling us what the riddle means. If you don't, we'll set fire to your father's house and burn you with it. You two invited us so that you could rob us, didn't you?”
[14:16] So Samson's wife went to him in tears and said, “You don't love me! You just hate me! You told my friends a riddle and didn't tell me what it means!” He said, “Look, I haven't even told my father and mother. Why should I tell you?”
[14:17] She cried about it for the whole seven days of the feast. But on the seventh day he told her what the riddle meant, for she nagged him so about it. Then she told the Philistines.
[14:18] So on the seventh day, before Samson went into the bedroom, the men of the city said to him, “What could be sweeter than honey? What could be stronger than a lion?” Samson replied, “If you hadn't been plowing with my cow, You wouldn't know the answer now.”
[14:19] Suddenly the power of the Lord made him strong, and he went down to Ashkelon, where he killed thirty men, stripped them, and gave their fine clothes to the men who had solved the riddle. After that, he went back home, furious about what had happened,
[14:20] and his wife was given to the man that had been his best man at the wedding.
[15:1] Some time later Samson went to visit his wife during the wheat harvest and took her a young goat. He told her father, “I want to go to my wife's room.” But he wouldn't let him go in.
[15:2] He told Samson, “I really thought that you hated her, so I gave her to your friend. But her younger sister is prettier, anyway. You can have her, instead.”
[15:3] Samson said, “This time I'm not going to be responsible for what I do to the Philistines!”
[15:4] So he went and caught three hundred foxes. Two at a time, he tied their tails together and put torches in the knots.
[15:5] Then he set fire to the torches and turned the foxes loose in the Philistine wheat fields. In this way he burned up not only the wheat that had been harvested but also the wheat that was still in the fields. The olive orchards were also burned.
[15:6] When the Philistines asked who had done this, they learned that Samson had done it because his father-in-law, a man from Timnah, had given Samson's wife to a friend of Samson's. So the Philistines went and burned the woman to death and burned down her father's house.
[15:7] Samson told them, “So this is how you act! I swear that I won't stop until I pay you back!”
[15:8] He attacked them fiercely and killed many of them. Then he went and stayed in the cave in the cliff at Etam.
[15:9] The Philistines came and camped in Judah, and attacked the town of Lehi.
[15:10] The men of Judah asked them, “Why are you attacking us?” They answered, “We came to take Samson prisoner and to treat him as he treated us.”
[15:11] So these three thousand men of Judah went to the cave in the cliff at Etam and said to Samson, “Don't you know that the Philistines are our rulers? What have you done to us?” He answered, “I did to them just what they did to me.”
[15:12] They told him, “We have come here to tie you up, so we can hand you over to them.” Samson said, “Give me your word that you won't kill me yourselves.”
[15:13] “All right,” they said, “we are only going to tie you up and hand you over to them. We won't kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him back from the cliff.
[15:14] When he got to Lehi, the Philistines came running toward him, shouting at him. Suddenly the power of the Lord made him strong, and he broke the ropes around his arms and hands as if they were burnt thread.
[15:15] Then he found a jawbone of a donkey that had recently died. He reached down and picked it up, and killed a thousand men with it.
[15:16] So Samson sang, “With the jawbone of a donkey I killed a thousand men; With the jawbone of a donkey I piled them up in piles.”
[15:17] After that, he threw the jawbone away. The place where this happened was named Ramath Lehi.
[15:18] Then Samson became very thirsty, so he called to the Lord and said, “You gave me this great victory; am I now going to die of thirst and be captured by these heathen Philistines?”
[15:19] Then God opened a hollow place in the ground there at Lehi, and water came out of it. Samson drank it and began to feel much better. So the spring was named Hakkore; it is still there at Lehi.
[15:20] Samson led Israel for twenty years while the Philistines ruled the land.
[16:1] One day Samson went to the Philistine city of Gaza, where he met a prostitute and went to bed with her.
[16:2] The people of Gaza found out that Samson was there, so they surrounded the place and waited for him all night long at the city gate. They were quiet all night, thinking to themselves, “We'll wait until daybreak, and then we'll kill him.”
[16:3] But Samson stayed in bed only until midnight. Then he got up and took hold of the city gate and pulled it up—doors, posts, lock, and all. He put them on his shoulders and carried them far off to the top of the hill overlooking Hebron.