Likewise, the most ¹  tender and delicate of your women, who would never think of putting even the sole of her foot on the ground because of her daintiness, ²  will turn against her beloved husband, her sons and daughters,

The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger ¹  will rage ²  against that man; all the curses ³  written in this scroll will fall upon him ⁴  and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. ⁵ 

Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live!

Now write down for yourselves the following song and teach it to the Israelites. Put it into their very mouths so that this song may serve as my witness against the Israelites!

“Take this scroll of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. It will remain there as a witness against you,

for I know about your rebellion and stubbornness. ¹  Indeed, even while I have been living among you to this very day, you have rebelled against the Lord; you will be even more rebellious after my death! ² 

Gather to me all your tribal elders and officials so I can speak to them directly about these things and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.

They will be starved by famine, eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; ¹  I will send the teeth of wild animals against them, along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.

Cry out, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge his servants’ blood; he will take vengeance against his enemies, and make atonement for his land and people.

for both of you ¹  rebelled against me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the desert of Zin when you did not show me proper respect ²  among the Israelites.

And this is the blessing ¹  to Judah. He said, Listen, O Lord, to Judah’s voice, and bring him to his people. May his power be great, and may you help him against his foes.

When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will turn against us and destroy the very memory of us ¹  from the earth. What will you do to protect your great reputation?” ² 

So the five Amorite kings (the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon) and all their troops gathered together and advanced. They deployed their troops and fought against Gibeon. ¹ 

“The entire community of the Lord says, ‘Why have you disobeyed the God of Israel by turning back today from following the Lord? You built an altar for yourselves and have rebelled today against the Lord. ¹ 

If ¹  you abandon the Lord and worship ²  foreign gods, he will turn against you; ³  he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, ⁴  though he once treated you well.” ⁵ 

These were the nations the Lord permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel – he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites. ¹ 

He sent messengers to Abimelech, who was in Arumah, ¹  reporting, “Beware! ²  Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers are coming ³  to Shechem and inciting the city to rebel against you. ⁴ 

Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed all the people in it. Then he leveled ¹  the city and spread salt over it. ² 

So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches ¹  against the stronghold and set fire to it. ²  All the people ³  of the Tower of Shechem died – about a thousand men and women.

The leaders ¹  of Gilead said to one another, “Who is willing to lead the charge ²  against the Ammonites? He will become the leader of all who live in Gilead!”