So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our ¹  men and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”

So Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from every tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge ¹  of the holy articles ²  and the signal trumpets.

Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone into the battle, “This is the ordinance of the law that the Lord commanded Moses:

“You must exact ¹  a tribute for the Lord from the fighting men who went out to battle: one life out of five hundred, from the people, the cattle, and from the donkeys and the sheep.

Moreover, he must not accumulate horses for himself or allow the people to return to Egypt to do so, ¹  for the Lord has said you must never again return that way.

When Joshua gave the army its orders, ¹  the seven priests carrying the seven rams’ horns before the Lord moved ahead and blew the horns as the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed behind.

Now Joshua had instructed the army, ¹  “Do not give a battle cry ²  or raise your voices; say nothing ³  until the day I tell you, ‘Give the battle cry.’ ⁴  Then give the battle cry!” ⁵ 

I and all the troops ¹  who are with me will approach the city. When they come out to fight us like before, we will retreat from them.

Joshua sent them away and they went to their hiding place ¹  west of Ai, between Bethel ²  and Ai. ³  Joshua spent that night with the army. ⁴ 

All the troops that were with him marched up and drew near the city. ¹  They camped north of Ai on the other side of the valley. ² 

When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the city was going up in smoke, ¹  they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.

But don’t you delay! Chase your enemies and catch them! ¹  Don’t allow them to retreat to ²  their cities, for the Lord your God is handing them over to you.” ³ 

Joshua and the Israelites almost totally wiped them out, but some survivors did escape to the fortified cities. ¹ 

O Lord, when you departed ¹  from Seir, when you marched from Edom’s plains, the earth shook, the heavens poured down, the clouds poured down rain. ² 

They invaded the land ¹  and devoured ²  its crops ³  all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, ⁴  and they took away ⁵  the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.

The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. ¹  Israel might brag, ²  ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’ ³ 

The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will deliver the whole army ¹  and I will hand Midian over to you. ²  The rest of the men should go home.” ³ 

It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?” ¹  When he said this, they calmed down. ² 

When Gaal son of Ebed came out and stood at the entrance to the city’s gate, Abimelech and his men got up from their hiding places.

So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander. Jephthah repeated the terms of the agreement ¹  before the Lord in Mizpah.