“Now, if you have shown loyalty and integrity when you made Abimelech king, if you have done right to Jerub-Baal and his family, ¹  if you have properly repaid him ²  –

Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “But you hated me and made me leave ¹  my father’s house. Why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?”

When he saw her, he ripped his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! You have completely ruined me! ¹  You have brought me disaster! ²  I made an oath to the Lord, and I cannot break it.” ³ 

She said to him, “My father, since ¹  you made an oath to the Lord, do to me as you promised. ²  After all, the Lord vindicated you before ³  your enemies, the Ammonites.”

When they really started celebrating, ¹  they said, “Call for Samson so he can entertain us!” So they summoned Samson from the prison and he entertained them. ²  They made him stand between two pillars.

When he gave the silver back to his mother, she ¹  took two hundred pieces of silver ²  to a silversmith, who made them into a carved image and a metal image. She then put them in Micah’s house. ³ 

This man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to find another place to live. He came to the Ephraimite hill country and made his way to Micah’s house. ¹ 

He said, “You stole my gods that I made, as well as this priest, and then went away. What do I have left? How can you have the audacity to say to me, ‘What do you want?’” ¹ 

Now the Danites ¹  took what Micah had made, as well as his priest, and came to Laish, where the people were undisturbed and unsuspecting. They struck them down with the sword and burned the city. ² 

The men refused to listen to him, so the Levite ¹  grabbed his concubine and made her go outside. ²  They raped ³  her and abused her all night long until morning. They let her go at dawn.

Ten thousand men, well-trained soldiers from all Israel, then made a frontal assault against Gibeah – the battle was fierce. ¹  But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was at their doorstep. ² 

The Israelites asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the Lord?” They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah must certainly be executed. ¹ 

Then Samuel said to Saul, “You have made a foolish choice! You have not obeyed ¹  the commandment that the Lord your God gave ²  you. Had you done that, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever!

But Jonathan had not heard about the oath his father had made the army take. He extended the end of his staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb. When he ate it, ¹  his eyes gleamed. ² 

“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from me and has not done what I told him to do.” Samuel became angry and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

Until the day he ¹  died Samuel did not see Saul again. Samuel did, however, mourn for Saul, but the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

This made Saul very angry. The statement displeased him and he thought, ¹  “They have attributed to David tens of thousands, but to me they have attributed only thousands. What does he lack, except the kingdom?”

Then Michal took a household idol ¹  and put it on the bed. She put a quilt ²  made of goat’s hair over its head ³  and then covered the idol with a garment.

You must be loyal ¹  to your servant, for you have made a covenant with your servant in the Lord’s name. ²  If I am guilty, ³  you yourself kill me! Why bother taking me to your father?”

Saul replied, “I have sinned. Come back, my son David. I won’t harm you, for you treated my life with value ¹  this day. I have behaved foolishly and have made a very terrible mistake!” ²