Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

29Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah of Gilead. And from there he advanced against the Ammonites.

30Jephthah made this vow to the LORD: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand,31then whatever comes out the door of my house to greet me on my triumphant return from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

32So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hand.33With a great blow he devastated twenty cities from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites.

34And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her.35As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back.”

36“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me as you have said, for the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.”37She also said to her father, “Let me do this one thing: Let me wander for two months through the mountains with my friends and mourn my virginity.”

38“Go,” he said. And he sent her away for two months. So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity upon the mountains.39After two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she had never had relations with a man. So it has become a custom in Israel40that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Jephthah Defeats Ephraim

1Then the men of Ephraim assembled and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why have you crossed over to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down with you inside!”

2But Jephthah replied, “My people and I had a serious conflict with the Ammonites, and when I called, you did not save me out of their hands.3When I saw that you would not save me, I risked my life and crossed over to the Ammonites, and the LORD delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come today to fight against me?”

4Jephthah then gathered all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are fugitives in Ephraim, living in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.”5The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim would say, “Let me cross over,” the Gileadites would ask him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he answered, “No,”6they told him, “Please say Shibboleth.” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce it correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. So at that time 42,000 Ephraimites were killed.

7Jephthah judged Israel six years, and when he died, he was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

8After Jephthah, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.9He had thirty sons, as well as thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage to men outside his clan; and for his sons he brought back thirty wives from elsewhere. Ibzan judged Israel seven years.10Then Ibzan died, and he was buried in Bethlehem.

11After Ibzan, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel ten years.12Then Elon the Zebulunite died, and he was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

13After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, judged Israel.14He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. And he judged Israel eight years.15Then Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, died, and he was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

The Birth of Samson

1Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

2Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.3The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are barren and have no children; but you will conceive and give birth to a son.4Now please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and not to eat anything unclean.5For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall come over his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

6So the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. His appearance was like the angel of God, exceedingly awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.7But he said to me, ‘Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now, therefore, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.’”

8Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, “Please, O Lord, let the man of God You sent us come to us again to teach us how to raise the boy who is to be born.”

9And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God returned to the woman as she was sitting in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.10The woman ran quickly to tell her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has reappeared!”

11So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” “I am,” he said.

12Then Manoah asked, “When your words come to pass, what will be the boy’s rule of life and mission?”

13So the angel of the LORD answered Manoah, “Your wife is to do everything I told her.14She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor drink any wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”

15“Please stay here,” Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”

16And the angel of the LORD replied, “Even if I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah did not know that it was the angel of the LORD.

17Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes to pass?”

18“Why do you ask my name,” said the angel of the LORD, “since it is beyond comprehension?”

19Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the LORD. And as Manoah and his wife looked on, the LORD did a marvelous thing.20When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.21And when the angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it had been the angel of the LORD.22“We are going to die,” he said to his wife, “for we have seen God!”

23But his wife replied, “If the LORD had intended to kill us, He would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things or spoken to us this way.”24So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the LORD blessed him.25And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson’s Marriage

1One day Samson went down to Timnah, where he saw a young Philistine woman.2So he returned and told his father and mother, “I have seen a daughter of the Philistines in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

3But his father and mother replied, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me, for she is pleasing to my eyes.”

4(Now his father and mother did not know this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.)

5Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him,6and the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.7Then Samson continued on his way down and spoke to the woman, because she was pleasing to his eyes.