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Judges 12-14

Judg 12:1 The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down over you!”

Judg 12:2 Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were engaged in conflict with the Ammonites who oppressed us severely. But when I called you, you did not deliver me from their hand.

Judg 12:3 When I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my hand, and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day, to fight against me?”

Judg 12:4 Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim; and the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives from Ephraim, you Gileadites—in the heart of Ephraim and Manasseh.”

Judg 12:5 Then the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. Whenever one of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,”

Judg 12:6 they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand of the Ephraimites fell at that time.

Judg 12:7 Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died, and was buried in his town in Gilead.

Judg 12:8 After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.

Judg 12:9 He had thirty sons. He gave his thirty daughters in marriage outside his clan and brought in thirty young women from outside for his sons. He judged Israel seven years.

Judg 12:10 Then Ibzan died, and was buried at Bethlehem.

Judg 12:11 After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel; and he judged Israel ten years.

Judg 12:12 Then Elon the Zebulunite died, and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

Judg 12:13 After him Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel.

Judg 12:14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys; he judged Israel eight years.

Judg 12:15 Then Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Judg 13:1 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

Judg 13:2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children.

Judg 13:3 And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are barren, having borne no children, you shall conceive and bear a son.

Judg 13:4 Now be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, or to eat anything unclean,

Judg 13:5 for you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor is to come on his head, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth. It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

Judg 13:6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like that of an angel of God, most awe-inspiring; I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name;

Judg 13:7 but he said to me, ‘You shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.’ ”

Judg 13:8 Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, “O, LORD, I pray, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we are to do concerning the boy who will be born.”

Judg 13:9 God listened to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.

Judg 13:10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.”

Judg 13:11 Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.”

Judg 13:12 Then Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the boy’s rule of life; what is he to do?”

Judg 13:13 The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “Let the woman give heed to all that I said to her.

Judg 13:14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine. She is not to drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. She is to observe everything that I commanded her.”

Judg 13:15 Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “Allow us to detain you, and prepare a kid for you.”

Judg 13:16 The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat your food; but if you want to prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.)

Judg 13:17 Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?”

Judg 13:18 But the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful.”

Judg 13:19 So Manoah took the kid with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the LORD, to him who works wonders.

Judg 13:20 When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.

Judg 13:21 The angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD.

Judg 13:22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”

Judg 13:23 But his wife said to him, “If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”

Judg 13:24 The woman bore a son, and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the LORD blessed him.

Judg 13:25 The spirit of the LORD began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Judg 14:1 Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman.

Judg 14:2 Then he came up, and told his father and mother, “I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”

Judg 14:3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among your kin, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she pleases me.”

Judg 14:4 His father and mother did not know that this was from the LORD; for he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Judg 14:5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him.

Judg 14:6 The spirit of the LORD rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a kid. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.

Judg 14:7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson.

Judg 14:8 After a while he returned to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.

Judg 14:9 He scraped it out into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.

Judg 14:10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there as the young men were accustomed to do.

Judg 14:11 When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

Judg 14:12 Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.

Judg 14:13 But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.” So they said to him, “Ask your riddle; let us hear it.”

Judg 14:14 He said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.” But for three days they could not explain the riddle.

Judg 14:15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?”

Judg 14:16 So Samson’s wife wept before him, saying, “You hate me; you do not really love me. You have asked a riddle of my people, but you have not explained it to me.” He said to her, “Look, I have not told my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?”

Judg 14:17 She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted; and because she nagged him, on the seventh day he told her. Then she explained the riddle to her people.

Judg 14:18 The men of the town said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.”

Judg 14:19 Then the spirit of the LORD rushed on him, and he went down to Ashkelon. He killed thirty men of the town, took their spoil, and gave the festal garments to those who had explained the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.

Judg 14:20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.

DMU Timestamp: August 27, 2012 21:34