The city and all that is in it must be set apart for the Lord, ¹  except for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the spies ²  we sent.

Yet Joshua spared ¹  Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family, ²  and all who belonged to her. She lives in Israel ³  to this very day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho. ⁴ 

The Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they retreat because they have become subject to annihilation. ¹  I will no longer be with you, ²  unless you destroy what has contaminated you. ³ 

The one caught with the riches ¹  must be burned up ²  along with all who belong to him, because he violated the Lord’s covenant and did such a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”

They told him, “Your subjects ¹  have come from a very distant land because of the reputation ²  of the Lord your God, for we have heard the news about all he did in Egypt ³ 

The Israelites did not attack them because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. ¹  The whole community criticized ²  the leaders,

We swear we have done this because we were worried that ¹  in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel? ² 

The Lord was with the men of Judah. They conquered ¹  the hill country, but they could not ²  conquer the people living in the coastal plain, because they had chariots with iron-rimmed wheels. ³ 

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹  The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel ²  because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight.

The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, because Sisera ¹  had nine hundred chariots with iron-rimmed wheels, ²  and he cruelly ³  oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

He said to her, “Give me a little water to drink, because I’m thirsty.” She opened a goatskin container of milk and gave him some milk to drink. Then she covered him up again.

That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, ¹  because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”

He said to the men of Succoth, “Give ¹  some loaves of bread to the men ²  who are following me, ³  because they are exhausted. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

Gideon continued, ¹  “I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken.” ²  (The Midianites ³  had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)

He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and murdered his half-brothers, ¹  the seventy legitimate ²  sons of Jerub-Baal, on one stone. Only Jotham, Jerub-Baal’s youngest son, escaped, ³  because he hid.

Jephthah assembled all the men of Gilead and they fought with Ephraim. The men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because the Ephraimites insulted them, saying, ¹  “You Gileadites are refugees in Ephraim, living within Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s territory.” ² 

Now his father and mother did not realize this was the Lord’s doing, ¹  because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble with the Philistines ²  (for at that time the Philistines were ruling Israel).

She cried on his shoulder ¹  until the party was almost over. ²  Finally, on the seventh day, he told her because she had nagged him so much. ³  Then she told the young men the solution to the riddle. ⁴ 

No one came to the rescue because the city ¹  was far from Sidon ²  and they had no dealings with anyone. ³  The city ⁴  was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites ⁵  rebuilt the city and occupied it.

I grabbed hold of my concubine and carved her up and sent the pieces ¹  throughout the territory occupied by Israel, ²  because they committed such an unthinkable atrocity ³  in Israel.