The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there ¹  until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil.

But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she ¹  must go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!”

The Gazites were told, ¹  “Samson has come here!” So they surrounded the town ²  and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. ³  They relaxed ⁴  all night, thinking, ⁵  “He will not leave ⁶  until morning comes; ⁷  then we will kill him!”

But then an old man passed by, returning at the end of the day from his work in the field. ¹  The man was from the Ephraimite hill country; he was living temporarily in Gibeah. (The residents of the town were Benjaminites.) ² 

Then he said, “Hold out the shawl ¹  you are wearing ²  and grip it tightly.” As she held it tightly, he measured out about sixty pounds ³  of barley into the shawl and put it on her shoulders. Then he ⁴  went into town,

But the servant said to him, “Look, there is a man of God in this town. He is highly respected. Everything that he says really happens. ¹  Now let’s go there. Perhaps he will tell us where we should go from here.” ² 

When you enter the town, you can find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people won’t eat until he arrives, for he must bless the sacrifice. Once that happens, those who have been invited will eat. Now go on up, for ¹  this is the time when you can find him!”

While they were going down to the edge of town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us.” So he did. ¹  Samuel then said, ²  “You remain here awhile, so I can inform you of God’s message.”

Afterward you will go to Gibeah of God, where there are Philistine officials. ¹  When you enter the town, you will meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place. They will have harps, tambourines, flutes, and lyres, and they will be prophesying.

Let our leaders take steps ¹  on behalf of all the assembly. Let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at an appointed time, and with them the elders of each town and its judges, until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter.”

hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders ¹  and enter into a curse and an oath ²  to adhere to ³  the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey ⁴  carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, ⁵  along with his ordinances and his statutes.

“Come back to me, my wayward sons,” says the Lord, “for I am your true master. ¹  If you do, ²  I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion.

At the sound of the approaching horsemen and archers the people of every town will flee. Some of them will hide in the thickets. Others will climb up among the rocks. All the cities will be deserted. No one will remain in them.

The Lord continued, ¹  “In every town in the land I will purge them like straw blown away by the wind. ²  I will destroy my people. I will kill off their children. I will do so because they did not change their behavior. ³