Judges  (GOD'S WORD)













































Judges 5:19-23 (GOD'S WORD)

    19 Kings came and fought. Then the kings of Canaan fought. They fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. But they didn’t carry off any rich loot.
    20 The stars fought from heaven. They fought against Sisera from their heavenly paths.
    21 The Kishon River swept them away— that old river, the Kishon. I must march on with strength!
    22 Then the horses’ hoofs pounded. The mighty war horses galloped on and on.
    23 “Curse Meroz!” said the Messenger of the LORD. “Bitterly curse those who live there! They did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD and his heroes.”













































Judges 6:11-18 (GOD'S WORD)

    11 The Messenger of the LORD came and sat under the oak tree in Ophrah that belonged to Joash from Abiezer’s family. Joash’s son Gideon was beating out wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12The Messenger of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said, “The LORD is with you, brave man.”
    13Gideon responded, “Excuse me, sir! But if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracles our ancestors have told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The LORD brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and has handed us over to Midian."
    14The LORD turned to him and said, “You will rescue Israel from Midian with the strength you have. I am sending you.”
    15Gideon said to him, “Excuse me, sir! How can I rescue Israel? Look at my whole family. It’s the weakest one in Manasseh. And me? I’m the least important member of my family.”
    16The LORD replied, “I will be with you. You will defeat Midian as if it were [only] one man.”
    17Gideon said to him, “If you find me acceptable, give me a sign that it is really you speaking to me. 18Don’t leave until I come back. I want to bring my gift and set it in front of you.” “I will stay until you come back,” he said.














































Judges 8:22-28 (GOD'S WORD)

   22The men of Israel said to Gideon, “You, then your son, and then your grandson, must rule us. You rescued us from Midian.”
    23Gideon replied, “I will not rule you nor will my son. The LORD will rule you.” 24Then Gideon said to them, “Do me a favor. Each of you give me the earrings from your loot.”
 (Their enemies, the Ishmaelites, wore gold earrings.)
    25The men of Israel answered, “Yes, we’ll give them to you.” So they spread out a coat. Each man took the earrings from his loot and dropped them on it.
    26The gold earrings Gideon had asked for weighed 40 pounds. This did not include the half-moon ornaments, the earrings, the purple clothes worn by the kings of Midian, and the chains from their camels’ necks. 27Then Gideon used the gold to make an idola and placed it in his hometown, Ophrah. All Israel chased after it there as though it were a prostitute.
It became a trap for Gideon and his family.
    28The power of Midian was crushed by the people of Israel, and Midian never again became a threat. So the land had peace for 40 years during Gideon’s life.














































Judges 9:7-15 (GOD'S WORD)

JOTHAM’S STORY

    7 When Jotham was told about this, he went to a high spot on Mount Gerizim. He shouted to them, “Listen to me, you citizens of Shechem, so that
God might listen to you.
    8 “The trees went to anoint someone to be king over them.
            They said to the olive tree,
                ‘Be our king!’
    9 But the olive tree responded,
            ‘Should I stop producing oil,
                    which people use to honor gods and humans,
                        in order to rule the trees?’
    10 Then the trees said to the fig tree,
            ‘You come and be our king!’
    11 But the fig tree responded,
            ‘Should I stop producing my good, sweet fruit
                    in order to rule the trees?’
    12 Then the trees said to the grapevine,
            ‘You come and be our king!’
    13 But the grapevine responded,
            ‘Should I stop producing my wine,
                which makes gods and humans happy,
                    in order to rule the trees?’
    14 Then all the trees said to the thornbush,
            ‘You come and be our king!’
    15 But the thornbush responded to the trees,
            ‘If you really want to anoint me to be your king,
                then come and take shelter in my shade.
            But if not, fire will come out of the thornbush
                and burn up the cedars of Lebanon.’










































Judges 13:2-20 (GOD'S WORD)

    2 There was a man from Zorah named Manoah. Manoah was from the family of Dan. His wife was not able to have children. 3The Messenger of the
LORD appeared to her and said, “You’ve never been able to have a child, but now you will become pregnant and have a son. 4Now you must be careful. Don’t drink any wine or liquor or eat any unclean food. 5You’re going to become pregnant and have a son. You must never cut his hair because the boy will be a Nazirite dedicated to God from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the power of the Philistines.”
    6The woman went to tell her husband. She said, “A man of God came to me. He had a very frightening appearance like the Messenger of God. So I
didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7He told me, ‘You’re going to become pregnant and have a son. So don’t drink any wine or liquor or eat any unclean food because the boy will be a Nazirite dedicated to God from the time he is born until he dies.’ ”
    8Then Manoah pleaded with the LORD, “Please, Lord, let the man of God you sent come back to us. Let him teach us what we must do for the boy who will be born.”
    9God did what Manoah asked. The Messenger of God came back to his wife while she was sitting out in the fields. But her husband Manoah was not with her. 10The woman ran quickly to tell her husband. She said, “The man who came to me the other day has just appeared to me [again].”
    11Manoah immediately followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”
    “Yes,” he answered.
    12Then Manoah asked, “When your words come true, how should the boy live and what should he do?”
    13The Messenger of the LORD answered Manoah, “Your wife must be careful to do everything I told her to do. 14She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevines, drink any wine or liquor, or eat any unclean food. She must be careful to do everything I commanded.”
    15Manoah said to the Messenger of the LORD, “Please stay while we prepare a young goat for you to eat.”
    16But the Messenger of the LORD responded, “If I stay here, I will not eat any of your food. But if you make a burnt offering, sacrifice it to the LORD.” (Manoah did not realize that it was the Messenger of the LORD.)
    17Then Manoah asked the Messenger of the LORD, “What is your name? When your words come true, we will honor you.”
    18The Messenger of the LORD asked him, “Why do you ask for my name? It’s a name that works miracles.”
    19So Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and sacrificed them to the LORD on a rock he used as an altar. While Manoah and his wife watched, the LORD did something miraculous. 20As the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the Messenger of the LORD went up in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they immediately bowed down with their faces touching the ground.








































Judges 18:8-31 (GOD'S WORD)

    8   The men went back to their relatives in Zorah and Eshtaol. Their relatives asked them, “What did you find?”
    9 They replied, “Get up, let’s attack Laish. We saw the land. It’s very good!
      “Don’t just sit there! Go at once and take the land. 10When you get there, you will come to a secure people. The land is wide open to you. God will hand it over to you. It’s a place where you will have everything you could want.”
    11So 600 men from the tribe of Dan left Zorah and Eshtaol armed for war. 12They camped at Kiriath Jearim in Judah. This is why the place just west of Kiriath Jearim is still called Mahaneh Dan [The Camp of Dan] today. 13From there they marched to the mountains of Ephraim as far as Micah’s house. 14Then the five men who had gone to spy throughout the land around Laish spoke up. They said to the other men of Dan, “Do you know that there’s an ephod, a carved idol, a metal idol, and household idols in these houses? What do you think we should do?”
    15So they stopped and entered Micah’s house and greeted the young Levite. 16The 600 armed men from Dan stood at the entrance to the city. 17The five men who had gone to spy throughout the land went inside. They took the carved idol, the ephod, the household idols, and the metal idol. The priest stood at the entrance to the city with the 600 armed men. 18When these men entered Micah’s house and took the carved idol, the ephod, the household idols, and the metal idol, the priest asked them, “What are you doing?”
    19They told him, “Keep quiet! Don’t say a word! Come with us and be our father and priest. Is it better for you to be a priest for one man’s house or for a tribe in Israel and its families?”
    20The priest was content. He took the ephod, the household idols, and the carved idol and went with the people. 21When they left, they put their children, livestock, and property in front of them.
    22When they had already gone some distance from Micah’s house, Micah’s neighbors were called together to help him catch up to the people of Dan. 23They shouted at them. But the people of Dan turned around and said to Micah, “What’s your problem? Why did you call your neighbors together to attack us?”
    24Micah answered, “You’ve taken away the gods I made as well as my priest. What do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What’s your problem?’ ”
    25The people of Dan replied, “Don’t make another sound, or some violent men will attack you. Then you and your family will lose your lives.” 26The people of Dan went on their way. Micah saw they were stronger than he was, so he turned around and went home.
    27The people of Dan took what Micah had made and the man who had become his priest and went to the city of Laish. They attacked a peaceful and secure people, killed them all with swords, and burned their city. 28There was no one to rescue them because their city was far from Sidon and totally independent. The city was in the valley that belonged to Beth Rehob. The people of Dan rebuilt the city and lived in it. 29They named the city Dan in honor of their ancestor Dan, Israel’s son. Originally, the city was called Laish.
    30The people of Dan set up the carved idol for themselves. Jonathan (son of Gershom and grandson of Moses) and his descendants were priests for Dan’s tribe until the people living in that land were taken captive. 31So they set up for themselves the carved idol Micah had made. It stayed there the whole time the house of God was at Shiloh.