Then the Angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: «I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, «I will never break My covenant with you.

And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.́ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this?

Therefore I also said, «I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.»́

So it was, when the Angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept.

Then they called the name of that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the LORD.

And when Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land.

So the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD which He had done for Israel.

Now Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died when he was one hundred and ten years old.

And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash.

When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.

Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals;

and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger.

They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.

Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for calamity, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.

Nevertheless, the LORD raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them.

Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do so.

And when the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them.

And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.

Then the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and He said, «Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice,

I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died,

so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the LORD, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.»

Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.

Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,

and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains.

So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.

Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.

For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it.

So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.

And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the LORD because of the Midianites,

that the LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, «Thus says the LORD God of Israel: «I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage;

and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.

Also I said to you, «I am the LORD your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.» But you have not obeyed My voice.»́

Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.

And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, «The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!»

Gideon said to Him, «O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, «Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?́ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.»

Then the LORD turned to him and said, «Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?»

So he said to Him, «O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my fatheŕs house.»

And the LORD said to him, «Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.»

Then he said to Him, «If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me.

Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You.» And He said, «I will wait until you come back.»

So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them.

The Angel of God said to him, «Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.» And he did so.

Then the Angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.

Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the LORD. So Gideon said, «Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face.»

Then the LORD said to him, «Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.»

So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it The-LORD-Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Now it came to pass the same night that the LORD said to him, «Take your fatheŕs young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it;

and build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.»

So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the LORD had said to him. But because he feared his fatheŕs household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night.

And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built.

So they said to one another, «Who has done this thing?» And when they had inquired and asked, they said, «Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.»

Then the men of the city said to Joash, «Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it.»

But Joash said to all who stood against him, «Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!»

Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, «Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar.»

Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.

But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him.

And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

So Gideon said to God, «If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said--

look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.»

And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.

Then Gideon said to God, «Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.»

And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.

Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children.

And the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, «Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.

Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean.

For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.»

So the woman came and told her husband, saying, «A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name.

And He said to me, «Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.»́

Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, and said, «O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.»

And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her.

Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, «Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!»

So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, «Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?» And He said, «I am.»

Manoah said, «Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boýs rule of life, and his work?»

So the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, «Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful.

She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe.»

Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, «Please let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You.»

And the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, «Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD.» (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the LORD.)

Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, «What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?»

And the Angel of the LORD said to him, «Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?»

So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the LORD. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on--

it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar--the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.

When the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the LORD.

And Manoah said to his wife, «We shall surely die, because we have seen God!»

But his wife said to him, «If the LORD had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time.»

So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

And the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.