- Judah & Simeon join together to strike down the remaining Canaanites in their lands, cutting off their king’s thumbs & big toes. Judah takes Jerusalem. The tribes drive out, kill or force Canaan into labor, though in some cases they are allowed to live among the Israelites. #Jdg1
- After Joshua, having renewed the covenant with the Lord, dies at 110 and is buried at Timnath Hareh in the land of Ephraim, a new generation arises. They do evil & worship other gods. The Lord raises up judges, but the people do not listen. An angry Lord turns against them. #Jdg2
- Some of the Israelites intermarry and worship the gods of other nations remaining in Canaan. Angered by this, the Lord subjects Israel to the rule of Aram (Syria) & later, Moab. Ehud brings tribute to Moab’s king Eglon but conceals a sword to kill him and liberate Israel. #Jdg3
- After Ehud’s death, Israel again does evil & is ruled by Canaan king Jaban & his general Sisera, who commands 900 chariots. Barak & 10000 men join with Deborah, a prophet, to route Sisera’s army. Sisera flees, but is killed by an ally’s wife who hammers a peg in his temple. #Jdg4
- Deborah and Barak sing a song celebrating their victory over Sisera. They recount the support and lack thereof from the tribes. The song hails Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, who killed Sisera after he sought refuge in their tent. And then the land had peace for 40 years. #Jdg5
- The Midianites destroy Israel’s harvests. An angel of the Lord appears to Gideon while threshing grain & tells him to drive them out. Though skeptical, Gideon builds an altar & destroys Asherah poles & idols of Baal. He gathers an army & uses dew on fleece to test the Lord. #Jdg6
- So that the Lord gains glory for defeating the Midianites, Gideon (of Manasseh) reduces the number of his troops by taking only those who lap water like a dog. Emboldened by a dream, Gideon leads his 300 men with trumpets and torches to the camp of the Midianites, who flee. #Jdg7
- Gideon calms Ephraim, who helped by killing Midianite kings Oreb & Zeeb. Still chasing Midian, the people of Sukkoth & Penuel refuse his troops bread & are punished after Gideon delivers Zebah & Zalumma, who he kills. Gideon receives tribute, rules Israel 40 years, & dies. #Jdg8
- Abimelek, son of Jerubbaal (Gideon) & a Shechem concubine, kills his 70 brothers except Jotham, the youngest. Gaal leads people of Shechem in revolt, who flee to a stronghold where they are burned to death. Abimelek dies when a woman in a tower drops a millstone on him. #Jdg9
- Israel is ruled by Tola of Issachar for 23 years, & Jair of Gilead for 22 years. Then Israel does evil in the eyes of the Lord, worshipping Baal & other gods. Israel falls to the Philistines & fights the Ammonites. Israel cries to the Lord for a leader to save them. #Jdg10
- Jephthah of Gilead, son of a harlot, is rejected by his people who later beg him to lead the fight against the Ammonites. He agrees, vowing to make a burnt offering of whatever comes out the door of his house on his return. He triumphs, but is met by his daughter. #Jdg11
- Ephraim, angry that they were not asked by Jephthah to fight Ammon, makes war on Gilead. Gilead kills 42000 Ephraimites crossing over the Jordan, identifying them by the word Shibboleth. Jephthah dies after ruling Israel 6 years. It is then ruled by Ibzan, Elon, & Abdon. #Jdg12
- An angel of the Lord appears to the wife of Manoah of Dan, telling her that she will bare a child and is to raise him as a Nazirite. Manoah prays to God about the boy. The angel returns, a burnt offering is made, and the angel ascends in flames. Samson is born. #Jdg13
- Samson, wishing to wed a Philistine, takes his parents there, killing a lion on the way. He later finds honey in the lion’s carcass. He takes his father down for a feast, betting 30 men garments if they solve a riddle. They threaten Samson’s wife to give them the answer. #Jdg14
- After killing 30 men to settle the riddle’s debt, Samson’s wife is given to someone else. Angered, Samson destroys the Philistines’ fields. Judah, who are under their rule, turns Samson over to them, but he breaks his bonds & kills 1000 Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone. #Jdg15
- Samson leads Israel for 20 years, avoids a trap with a harlot, & falls in love with Delilah. She asks him the source of his strength. He tricks her 3 times, finally saying it is his hair. It is cut, Samson is taken, & his eyes are gouged out. He dies pulling down a temple. #Jdg16
- Delilah’s treachery earns her 1100 silver shekels from each of a few Philistine rulers. Micah, from Ephraim’s hill country, returns 1100 shekels to a woman from whom it was taken. She makes an idol & ephod for him. A Levite appears at Micah’s house & becomes his priest. #Jdg17
- Five Danites are sent to survey the land that Dan is to inherit. They stay with Micah, are promised good fortune by the priest, and find peaceful, prosperous towns. Upon returning to Dan with an army, they take Micah’s goods and his priest, and raze the town of Laisch. #Jdg18
- A Levite’s concubine flees to her father in Bethlehem. The man goes to get her & is entreated to stay extra days. They leave & rest at Gibeah, a Benjaminite city. Men demand sex & rape the concubine to death. The Levite cuts her into pieces & sends them to Israel’s tribes. #Jdg19
- Israel’s leaders assemble at Mizpah & decide to send a force to punish the Benjaminites. After two attacks with great losses, they arrange an ambush that leaves 25000 Benjaminites dead, 600 escaped, and Gibeah and all towns in Benjamin destroyed. #Jdg20
- Grieved that Benjamin would go extinct, as an oath was taken not to give them their daughters, Israel abducts 400 women from Gilead, which was absent from the assembly. Benjamin also abducts women from Shiloh. In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. #Jdg21