1 In the beginning, God[fn] created the heavens and the earth.

12 Then Yahweh said to Abram, “You must leave your land and your relatives and your father’s house and go to the land that I’ll show you.[ref] 2 I’ll bless you and make you into a great nation. I’ll make you famous and you’ll be a blessing to others. 3 I’ll bless everyone who blesses you, but I’ll curse anyone who curses you. All the families on the earth will be blessed because of you.[ref]

4 So Abram left there just as Yahweh had told him, and Lot also went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left the city of Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and all their possessions that they had accumulated and the people who they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan.

When they arrived in the Canaan region,

27 Then Yisra’el went VISIT OR LIVE? to his father Yitshak in Mamre (also named Kiriat-Arba or Hebron), where Abraham and Yitshak had lived for a time.[ref]

22 Several years later, God decided to test Abraham, calling him, “Abraham.”[ref]

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 “Take your son Yitshak who you love, your only son,” God commanded him, “and go to the Moriah region and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I’ll point out to you.”[ref]

3 So Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. Then he took two of his young men with him and his son Yitshak, and he cut some firewood for the burnt offering. Then they left to go to the place that God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up ahead and he could see the place from a distance, 5 so he said to his young men, “Stay here by yourselves with the donkey while the boy and I go over there to worship God, then we’ll come back to you here.”

6 So Abraham took the firewood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Yitshak, and he carried the fire pot and the knife. Then the two of them went on together, 7 and Yitshak asked his father Abraham his father, “My father?”

“Yes, son?”, he replied.

“We’ve got the fire and the wood,”, he continued, “but where’s the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 “God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering himself, my son,” Abraham answered, and then the two of them continued on together.

9 Then they came to the place that God had told him, and Abraham built an altar there and arranged the firewood on it. Then he tied up his son Yitshak and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.[ref] 10 Then Abraham took the knife and raised his arm to kill his son, 11 but one of Yahweh’s messengers called to him from the sky and said, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am.” he answered.

12 “Don’t lift up your hand against the boy,” the messenger continued. “And don’t do anything to him, because now I know that you respect and obey God, since you haven’t withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

13 Then Abraham raised his head and looked around, and wow, there was a ram was behind him, caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went and grabbed the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham named that place ‘Yahweh will provide’, and to this day it’s still said, “Yahweh will provide on his mountain.”

48 Some time after that, Yosef was told, “Listen, your father is sick.” So Yosef went to him, taking his two sons with him—Manasseh and Efraim. 2 When someone told Yacob that Yosef had arrived, he exerted himself and sat up in bed, 3 then he told him, “God the provider appeared to me at Luz in Canaan, and he blessed me[ref] 4 and said to me, ‘Listen, I’ll make you fruitful, and I’ll multiply you and make you into a community of peoples. And I’ll give this land to your offspring after you to be their possession forever.’ 5 “And now, your two sons, who were born for you here in Egypt before I came here, I adopt them as my own—Efraim and Manasseh—just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 6 Any other children that you father after them will be yours. Their inheritance will only be through their older brothers. 7 As for me, when I was coming into Canaan from Paddan, Rahel died beside on the way when we were still quite some distance from Efrath, and I buried her there beside the road of Efrath (which is Bethlehem).”[ref]

8 Then Yisra’el noticed Yosef’s two sons and asked, “Who are these?”

9 “They are my sons that God has given me here in this place.” Yosef replied to his father.

“Please bring them to me, and I will bless them,” Yacob requested. 10 Now Yisra’el’s sight was poor in his old age, so he wasn’t able to see much. So Yosef brought them over to him, and Yisra’el kissed them and embraced them. 11 “I never expected to see you again” he said to Yosef, “but wow, God has even let me see your children as well.” 12 Then Yosef removed his sons from his father’s knees and bowed with his face to the ground.

13 Then Yosef took both of them—Efraim on his right toward Yisra’el’s left and Manasseh (the eldest) on his left toward Yisra’el’s right—and brought them close to him. 14 But Yisra’el intentionally extended his right hand and placed it on the Efraim’s head (the younger one), and crossing his arms, he placed his left hand on Manasseh’s head. 15 Then he blessed Yosef saying,

“May the God who my grandfather Abraham and my father Yitshak served,

the God who has been shepherding me for my entire life,

16 the messenger who’s turned all harm intended for me into good,

may he bless these young men.

May they be recognised as my descendants,

and as descendants of Abraham and Yitshak,

and grow to increase in number on the earth.

17 Then Yosef noticed that his father had placed his right hand on Efraim’s head and he was upset about it, so he picked up his father’s hand to move it across to Manasseh’s head, 18 telling his father, “My father, that’s wrong because that one is my oldest son. Put your right hand on his head.” 19 But his father pushed back, “I know, my son, I know. Manasseh will also become a people, and he will also be great. Nevertheless his younger brother will be the greater one, and his descendants will become a multitude of nations.”

20 So Yisra’el blessed Efraim and Manasseh that day saying,[ref]

“After this, my descendants will bless people by saying,

‘May God make you like Efraim and like Manasseh.’ ”

(Notice that he put Efraim before Manasseh.)

11 Later on when Mosheh was fully grown, he went out to visit the Hebrews and saw their forced labour, and he saw an Egyptian man beating a Hebrew man—one of his own people.[ref] 12 Mosheh looked around to check that no one was watching, then he hit the Egyptian, killing him, then he hid his body in the sand.

21 Then Mosheh summoned the Israeli elders and told them, “Go ahead and select a lamb or young goat for each family and slaughter it. 22 Then you all must take a bunch of leafy hyssop stalks, and dip it in the basin with the blood from the sacrifice and paint the blood onto the lintel and both doorposts. After that, absolutely no one should go out the door of your houses until morning. 23 Then Yahweh will pass through out Egypt to strike the Egyptians and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, he’ll ‘pass over’ that doorway and won’t permit ‘the destroyer’ to enter into your houses to strike.[ref] 24 All of you and your descendants must maintain this as a law and celebrate it forever, 25 so when you all enter into the land that Yahweh will give to you just as he promised, then you must observe this ceremony. 26 Then when it occurs, your children will ask, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 you all must tell them, ‘It’s the sacrifice of ‘pass-over’ to Yahweh, who passed over the houses of the Israelis in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and rescued our families.’ ”

And the people bowed their heads and prostrated themselves, 28 and the Israelis went and did just as Yahweh had commanded through Mosheh and Aharon.

29 Then, in the middle of the night, Yahweh struck all the oldest males in Egypt, from the oldest son of Far’oh who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon and all oldest male offspring of the animals.[ref] 30 During the night, all the Egyptians got up, including Far’oh and all his servants. There was tremendous wailing throughout Egypt because it was a very rare house where there wasn’t someone dead.

2 Then from there at Acacia Grove, Yehoshua (Nun’s son) secretly sent off two spies, saying, “Go and learn about the land over there, especially around Yericho City.” So they went off, and over there, they entered the house of a woman—a prostitute named Rahab—and they lay down there.[ref] 2 However, someone told Yericho’s king, “Listen, some Israeli men arrived here tonight to check out our land.” 3 So the king sent guards to tell Rahab, “Bring out the men who went to your place and stayed the night, because they’ve come here to check out our land!”

4 However, Rahab had hidden the two men so she answered, “Indeed, the men arrived here, but I didn’t know where they were from. 5 But as the city gate was about to shut last night, the men went out. I don’t know to where they went—if you all hurry, you might be able to catch them.” 6 (But actually she had taken them up onto her flat roof and hidden them in bundles of flax that were drying there.) 7 So the guards hurried out on the road to the fords on the Yordan River and the city gate was kept shut after they had left.

8 Before the Israeli men lay down to sleep that night, Rahab went up them on the roof 9 and told them, “We know that Yahweh has given this land to you all and we’re all terrified of you. Everyone that lives here is trembling at the thought of your coming 10 because we’ve heard that Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea ahead of you all when you left Egypt (Mitsrayim). And we heard what you all did to two of the Amorite kings Sihon and Og over the Yordan there—how you all completely destroyed them.[ref] 11 Yes, we’ve heard the reports and we trembled and lost our courage to fight you all because your God Yahweh, he’s God over the heavens above and the earth below. 12 So now, please promise me by Yahweh that because I’ve been kind to both of you, you all will act kindly towards my father’s household. Give me a guarantee that you’ll do what you promise 13 and spare my parents and my siblings and their families from death.”

14 “Our lives for your lives,” the two men agreed. “If you don’t tell anyone about our agreement, then when Yahweh gives us this land, we’ll show kindness and faithfulness to you.”

15 Then she put a rope out through the window to let them down to escape from the city, because her house where she lived was actually built into the side of the wall. 16 “Go to the hill country,” she told them, “so those searching for you won’t find you, and hide up there for three days. Then once the searchers have returned, you’ll be able to safely return to your camp.”

17 “This promise that you made us make,” the men told her, “won’t apply unless you do this: 18 Take this red cord and when we invade the land, tie it in this window in the wall. Make sure that your parents and your siblings and their households are all here in your house. 19 If any of them leaves the house, their life will then be in their own hands and we’ll be innocent if they’re killed. But if anyone with you in this house gets injured, we’ll be responsible for that. 20 Also, if you tell anyone else about this agreement, then we’ll be released from this promise that you made us make.” 21 “Sure, let it be as you say,” Rahab responded. Then she sent them off, and after they’d gone, she tied the red cord in her window.

7 Then Gideon (also known as Yerub-Baal) and the warriors with him got up early and went to Harod spring. The Midianite camp was north of them in the valley below the Moreh hill.

2 Then Yahweh told Gideon, “You’ve got too many warriors with you for me to give victory over the Midianites, because what if Israel takes the glory for themselves thinking that their own strength saved them. 3 So tell the men that anyone who’s afraid or trembling can leave Mt. Gilead and go back home.” Twenty-two thousand of them went back, leaving only ten thousand.[ref]

4 “That’s still too many,” Yahweh told Gideon. “Bring them down to the spring and I’ll short-list them there. Whoever I tell you to go with you, can do so, but anyone that I say won’t go with you, won’t go.” 5 So he took them down to the water and Yahweh told him, “Separate out those who lap up the water with their tongues like a dog would, along with those who kneel down to drink.” 6 It turned out that only three hundred men used their hands to bring water to their mouths, and all the rest knelt down to drink the water. 7 “I’ll rescue you all from Midian with the three hundred men who lapped the water from their hands,” Yahweh told Gideon. “Let all the others go back to their homes.” 8 Then the three-hundred warriors collected the food and ram’s horns from the others before Gideon sent the others back to their own homes.

The Midian camp was below them down in the valley 9 and during the night Yahweh told Gideon, “Get ready and lead them down into the camp, because I have made you victorious. 10 But if you’re afraid to attack, take your servant Purah down to their camp 11 and you’ll hear what they’re saying, then you’ll have the courage to go down and attack the camp.” So Gideon and his servant Purah went quietly down to the unit at the edge of the camp.

12 The Midianites and Amalekites and others from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. Even their camels were as numerous as sand grains on the beach. 13 When Gideon got close, a man was telling his companion about his dream. “Listen,” he said, “I had a dream and wow, a round loaf of barley bread was tumbling into our camp. It came as far as the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, and collapsed completely.”

14 “That could only be the sword of Yoash’s son Gideon from Israel,” the other man replied. “The true God has caused Midian and all of the camp to be defeated by him.”

15 When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he thanked God, then they returned to their camp and commanded, “Get ready to go because Yahweh has given you all victory over the Midianite camp.” 16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three units, and gave each of them rams’ horns and clay jars with burning torches inside them, 17 and instructed them, “Watch me and do what I do. See, when I get to the edge of their camp, do the same as me. 18 When I blow the ram’s horn trumpet, all of you with horns should blow them and everyone will shout, ‘For Yahweh and for Gideon!’ ”

19 When Gideon and the hundred men with him got to the edge of the camp, it was the beginning of the middle nightwatch and the fresh guards had just gotten into their places. Gideon and his unit blew their trumpets and smashed the jars that they were carrying. 20 Then all three units blew the trumpets and smashed their jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands, and they shouted out, “A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon.” 21 Then everyone stood in their place around the camp, but the Midianite army cried out in alarm and took off. 22 When the three hundred ram’s horns sounded, Yahweh caused the Midianite army to start fighting each other with their swords, and the army fled as far as Beyt-Shittah (towards Tsererah) and towards the border of Abel-Meholah (towards Tabbat).

23 Then the warriors from Naftali, Asher, and from all of Manashsheh were summoned to help with pursuing the Midianites. 24 Gideon also sent messengers through Efraim’s hill country to tell them, “Go down to the Yordan river opposite Midian and take control of the crossings to capture them between as far as Beyt-Barah.” So all the men of Efraim were summoned and they commandeered the Yordan crossings as far as Beyt-Barah. 25 They chased after the Midianites and captured their two princes, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock now called ‘Oreb’s rock’, and they killed Zeeb at a winepress now called ‘Zeeb’s winepress’, and they brought their heads back across the Yordan to Gideon.

8 But then the Efraimite men challenged Gideon, “Why have you side-tracked us? Why didn’t you call us when you went to battle against the Midianites?” And they severely rebuked him.

2 “What have I achieved compared to you guys?” answered Gideon. “Aren’t the seconds of Efraim’s grapes better than the whole grape harvest of Abiezer? 3 God helped you all defeat Oreb and Zeeb, the princes of Midian. What did I do compared to that?” After he said that, they all calmed down again.[ref]

4 Then Gideon and his three hundred warriors crossed the Yordan going east. They were all exhausted, but continued the pursuit. 5 When they arrived at the town of Sukkot, Gideon asked the leaders, “Please give my men some bread to eat because they’re exhausted, but we’re chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the Midianite kings.”

6 However, the Sukkot officials asked cautiously, “Do you already have Zebah and Zalmunna in your grasp that we should give food to your army?”

7 “Let me assure you all,” Gideon responded, “that when Yahweh has helped us capture Zebah and Zalmunna, I will rip off your flesh with the wilderness thorns and briers.”

8 From there they climbed up to Penuel, and he asked them for food in a similar manner, and the leaders there responded similarly to the leaders of Sukkot. 9 So he said to the men of Penuel as well, “When I return safely, I’ll tear down this tower.”

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with around fifteen thousand warriors—all that remained out of all of that allied Midianite camp of eastern people, because one hundred and twenty thousand of their warriors had already been killed. 11 Gideon approached them unexpectedly via the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and struck their camp when they were feeling secure. 12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but they chased after those two Midianite kings and captured them, thus defeating their entire army.

13 The Gideon (Yoash’s son) and his warriors returned from battle, going through the Heres pass. 14 He captured a young man from Sukkot and questioned him—writing down the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Sukkot. 15 Then he returned to Sukkot and told them, “Look here at Zebah and Zalmunna—the ones you taunted me about when you asked, ‘Do you already have Zebah and Zalmunna in your grasp that we should give food to your weary men.’ ” 16 He took the city elders and had them punished with wilderness thorns and briers to teach them a lesson, 17 then they went to Penuel and tore down the tower and executed the city leaders.

18 Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What were the men like that you killed at Tabor?”

“They were just like you,” they replied. “They seemed like they could have been a king’s sons.”

19 “They were my brothers—the sons of my mother,” he said. “As Yahweh lives, if only you had let them live, I wouldn’t have killed you.” 20 Then he ordered Yeter, his oldest son, “Go and kill them.” But Yeter didn’t pull out his sword because he was afraid—he was still a youth.

21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Come and kill us yourself—be a man and use your own strength.” So Gideon went over and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and then he took the crescent-shaped ornaments that were on their camels’ necks.

22 Then a group of Israeli men said to Gideon, “We want you and your sons and your future descendants to rule over us, because you have saved us from the Midianites.”

23 But Gideon answered, “No, I won’t rule over you myself, nor will my son rule over you. Yahweh will rule over you.” 24 However, he continued, “Let me ask you all for something: that each man give me the earrings from his spoil.” (The enemies had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)

25 “We can certainly do that for you,” they replied. So they spread out a garment and each man threw the earrings from his spoil onto it. 26 Now the weight of the gold earrings of gold came to twenty kilograms, and then there were the crescent-shaped ornaments, the pendants, the dyed purple garments that the Midianite kings had been wearing, as well as the collars that had been around their camels’ necks. 27 Then Gideon made the gold into an idol[fn] and placed it in his home city of Ophrah, and the Israelis prostituted themselves to it there, and so it became like a trap for Gideon and his household.

28 So Midian was kept under control by the Israelis and they didn’t continue to oppress the people, and there was peace in the region for forty years during Gideon’s time.

29 Then Gideon (Yoash’s son, also known as Yerub-Baal) went back and lived in his house, 30 and he fathered seventy sons because he had many wives. 31 He also had a mistress in Shekem—she also bore him a son that he named Abimelek. 32 Gideon died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Yoash his father, at Ofrah of the Abiezerites.

5 That day, Deborah and Barak sang this song:

2 “When the leaders take the lead in Israel,

when the people offer themselves willingly,

Yahweh be blessed.

3 Listen you kings.

≈Pay attention you rulers.

I will sing to Yahweh, yes, even me.

≈I will make music for Israel’s God Yahweh.

4 Yahweh, you left Seir.

≈You marched out of the Edom region.

The earth quaked.

≈The heavens also dropped.

And the clouds poured down rain.

5 Mountains melted in Yahweh’s presence,[ref]

Yes, Mt. Sinai shook in front of Israel’s God, Yahweh.

6 In the days of Anat’s son Shamgar,

≈in the days of Yael,

main roads were abandoned,

≈and travellers walked twisting trails.

7 Israeli villages were abandoned.

≈No one lived there until I, Deborah, became their leader.

I became one of Israel’s mothers.

8 When Israel chose new gods,

then enemies attacked the city gates.

No shield or spear could be found

among forty thousand in Israel.

9 I’m thankful to Israel’s commanders

who volunteered to help the people.

Yahweh be blessed.

10 You riders of white donkeys,

you who sit on saddle blankets,

you who’re walking on the road,

tell about this.

11 From the sounds of conflict over the watering places

they recount ≈Yahweh’s righteousness

and about his righteous warriors in Israel.

Then Yahweh’s people went down to the city gates.

12 Wake up, Deborah, wake up.

Wake up, wake up, sing a song.

Barak, get moving and capture your prisoners,

you son of Abinoam.

13 Then the survivor went down to the nobles.

Yahweh’s people went down to the mighty. ???

14 From Efraim their root was with Amalek.

After you, Benyamin, among your people.

From (Manashsheh’s) Makir, the commanders came down.

And from Zebulun, those who march carrying an officer’s staff.

15 My princes in Yissashkar were with Deborah.

And Yissashkar was also with Barak.

He was sent into a valley on his heels.

There was intense heart searching among the clans of Reuben.

16 Why did you sit between the sheep pens?

To hear the whistling for the flocks?

There was intense heart searching among the clans of Reuben.

17 Gilead settled east of the Yordan.

But, Dan, why does he stay on ships?

Asher stayed at the sea coast

≈and lives by his jetties.

18 Zebulun were a tribe that devotedly risked losing their lives.

And Naftali was at their heights on the battlefield.

19 Kings came and made war.

Then the Canaanite kings fought at Taanak,

at the Megiddo springs.

But they weren’t able to plunder any silver.

20 From the sky, the stars battled.

From their courses, they fought against Sisera.

21 The Kishon river swept them away.

An ancient river that Kison river.

March on with strength, my soul.

22 Then the horses’ hooves struck.

His galloping stallions charging.

23 ‘Curse that Meroz place,’ said Yahweh’s messenger.

‘You shall certainly curse its inhabitants

because they didn’t come and help Yahweh—

to help Yahweh against the mighty ones.’

24 Yael will be an honoured woman.

The wife of Heber the Kenite.

She deserves the most praise out of all women who live in tents.

25 He asked for water—she gave him milk,

Yogurt in a bowl suitable for nobles.

26 Her hands reached out for the tent peg,

and her right hand for the workman’s hammer.

She hammered Sisera—shattering his head—

shattering and piercing his temple.

27 He bowed down between her feet—he fell—he lay down.

He bowed down between her feet—where he bowed down, there he fell—destroyed.

28 Sisera’s mother looked out the window.

She peered through the lattice, crying out,

‘Why is his chariot so slow to return?

Why are the hoofbeats of his chariots delayed?’

29 Her wise ladies answered her.

Indeed, she keeps telling herself

30 ‘Won’t they be gathering and dividing the plunder?

A woman or two for each warrior to bear children.

Finding some colourful material for Sisera.

Taking some embroidered fabrics.

Dyed scarves as plunder.’

31 May all your enemies perish like that, Yahweh.

But may those who love you shine like the sun rising in its strength.”

Then that region had peace for forty years.

14 One time when Shimshon went to Timnah, he noticed a young, Philistine woman there, 2 and he went back home and he reported to his parents, “I saw a Philistine woman in Timnah that I’d like you to get for me as my wife.”

3 “Isn’t there a woman among your relatives?” his parents asked him, “Or among all of our people? Why take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”

“Get her for me,” Shimshon said to his father, “because I feel she’s right for me.”

4 Now his parents didn’t know that Yahweh was arranging this, because he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines who were oppressing Israel at that time.

5 Then Shimshon went to Timnah with his parents and when they got to the vineyards there, wow, a young lion roared when it saw him. 6 Yahweh’s spirit rose up in Shimshon, and he tore the lion to pieces with his bare hands like butchering a young goat, but he didn’t mention to his parents what he’d done.

7 Then he continued on and talked with the woman, and he really liked her. 8 Some time later when he returned for the wedding, he turned off the path to look for the lion’s carcass, and to his surprise, a swarm of bees had nested in the carcass and there was honey there. 9 He filled his cupped hands with honey, and continued along—walking and eating as he went to where his parents were. He even gave some to them to try, but he didn’t tell them that he had scooped it out of the carcass of a dead lion. 10 Then his father went to visit the woman, and in the custom of the young men of the time, Shimshon held a party there. 11 When they saw him, they brought thirty close friends to join him.[fn] 12 Samson said to them, “Let me suggest a riddle for you all. If you’re able to explain it to me during the seven days of the party and you’ve worked it out correctly, I’ll give you all thirty linen coats and thirty sets of clothes. 13 But if you all can’t explain it to me, then you yourselves must give me thirty linen coats and thirty sets of clothes.”

“Okay, we’re listening. Tell us the riddle.” they answered.

14 So he said,

“Food came out of the eater,

≈and sweetness came out of the strong one.”

But three days later, they still couldn’t solve his riddle.

15 Then on the seventh day,[fn] they pressured Shimshon’s wife, “Get your husband to tell you the answer of the riddle, otherwise we’ll burn down your father’ house and you as well. Did you invite us to the party just to impoverish us?”

16 Then Shimshon’s wife put on a crying act and said, “You must hate me—you don’t love me because you’ve created a riddle for my relatives, yet you haven’t even told me the answer.”

“Listen,” he replied, “I haven’t even told my own parents. Should I tell you?” 17 She continued to cry beside him throughout the seven-day party, and then finally on the seventh day, he gave in and told her because she kept nagging him, so in the end she was able to reveal the answer to her relatives. 18 Then the men of the city said to Shimshon before the sun went down on the seventh day,

“What is sweeter than honey?

And what’s stronger than a lion?”

So he said to them,

“If you all hadn’t ploughed with my heifer,

you wouldn’t have been able to solve my riddle.”

19 Then Yahweh’s spirit rose up in him, and he went to Ashkelon and killed thirty men there. He took their possessions, and he gave the changes of clothes for the riddle. But he was very angry, so he went back to his parent’s home. 20 Then (unknown to Shimshon), his wife was given to the man who’d been his close friend and companion.

15 Some days later during the wheat harvest, Shimshon visited his wife with a young goat as a present for the family, because he said, “I’ll go into the bedroom with my wife.” But her father wouldn’t allow him to go in, 2 and pleaded, “Truly, I I thought that you must hate her, so I gave her to your close friend. But wouldn’t her younger sister be better anyway? Please, would you take her instead.”

3 Shimshon responded, “This time I’m blameless concerning the Philistines when I cause trouble for them.” 4 Then he went and captured three hundred foxes and tied them in pairs—tail to tail. He took torches, and tied one torch between the tails of each pair. 5 He lit the torches and let the foxes loose into the grain crops of the Philistines. As a result, he burnt both the standing grain plants and also the harvested stacks of sheaves, and even a vineyard and an olive orchard. 6 So the Philistines asked, “Who did this?”

“Shimshon,” they replied, “the son-in-law of the man from Timnah, because he took Shimshon’s wife and gave her to his close friend.” As a result, the Philistines went to Timnah and they burnt both the woman and her father. 7 Then Shimshon told them, “Since you actually did that horrible thing, I certainly won’t stop until I’ve avenged myself against you all.” 8 Then he attacked the Philistines and crippled many of them, before going to Etam’s rock where he lived in a cave.

9 However, the Philistine warriors went and camped in Yehudah, and spread out around the town of Lehi. 10 But the men of Yehudah asked them, “Why have you all come here to attack us?”

“We’ve come to capture Shimshon,” they replied. “To give him some of his own back.” 11 Then three thousand men from Yehudah went down to the cleft of Etam’s rock, and told Shimshon, “Don’t you realise that the Philistines are ruling over us? Why are you causing more trouble for us?”

“Just as they’ve done to me,” he replied, “so I’ve done to them.”

12 “We’ve come here to tie you up so we can hand you over to the Philistines,” they said.

“Okay,” Shimshon responded. “But promise me that you all won’t injure me yourselves.”

13 “No, however, we’ll certainly tie you up,” they replied, “and we’ll hand you over to them. But truly we won’t kill you.” Then they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rocks.

14 When they’d taken him as far as Lehi, the Philistines shouted triumphantly when they saw him. Then Yahweh’s spirit rose in Shimshon and the ropes around his arms just seemed as weak as burnt flax stalks when he simply snapped them off him. 15 He saw a fresh donkey’s jawbone lying on the ground, and he reached out his hand and grabbed it, and he slaughtered a thousand Philistine men with it. 16 Then Shimshon declared,

“With a donkey’s jawbone, one heap, two heaps,

≈with a donkey’s jawbone, I’ve slaughtered a thousand men.”

17 When he finished reciting that, he hurled the jawbone away, and he called that place ‘Ramat-Lehi’ (which means ‘jawbone hill’).

18 Then he was very thirsty and cried out to Yahweh, “You yourself have given your servant this great victory, but now must I die with this thirst and get captured by those uncircumcised Philistines?” 19 So God split open the little hollow that’s at Lehi, and water came out of it. When he drank, his strength returned and he revived. Because of that, he called it ‘En-Hakkore’ (which means ‘the fountain of the one who called out’), which is in Lehi to this day. 20 And so Shimshon led Israel for twenty years at the time of the Philistine oppression.

16 Samson went to Gaza city and he saw a prostitute woman there so he went in to spend the night with her. 2 But the Gazites passed around the news, “Shimshon’s in town.” So they encircled the city gate and they laid in wait for him all night. They stayed quiet the whole night, saying, “We’ll kill him when it gets light.” 3 Samson stayed with her until the middle of the night, then he got up. He picked up both the gates including the cross-bar and their posts, and hoisted them up onto his shoulders, and he carried them up to the top of the hill which is in front of Hebron.

4 Sometime after that, Shimshon fell in love with a Philistine woman named Delilah who lived in the Sorek valley. 5 The Philistine leaders came to her and requested, “Make him open up. Find out what makes him strong, and how we can beat him, so that we can tie him up to keep him in our power. Then we’ll each give you one thousand one hundred silver coins.”

6 So Delilah asked Shimshon, “Please, tell me what makes you so strong, and how could someone tie you up to keep you in their power?”

7 “If they’d tie me up with seven green cords that haven’t been dried,” he replied, “then I’d become weak and be just like any other man.”

8 So the Philistine leaders brought her seven green cords that hadn’t been dried, and she tied him up with them. 9 Now she had an ambush group ready in the next room when she said to him, “The Philistines are here to get you, Shimshon!” But he tore the cords to shreds just like a strip of flax fiber is torn to shreds when the fire reaches it, thus they didn’t find out the secret of his strength. 10 Then Delilah said to him, “Listen, you deceived me and lied to me. Now tell me, please, how could someone tie you up?”

11 “Actually, if they would tie me with new ropes which have never been used,” he replied, “I’d become weak and be just like any other man.”

12 So Delilah took new cords and tied him up with them. She said to him, “The Philistines are here to get you, Shimshon!” with the ambush group staying in the next room. But he flicked them off his arms like they were just thread.

13 Then Delilah said to Shimshon, “So far you’ve just been deceitful to me and told me lies. Now Tell me how you can be tied up.”

So he told her, “It’s if you just weave seven locks of my hair into the loom.”

14 So she did it and fastened it with the pin, and called out, “The Philistines are here to get you, Shimshon!” Then he woke up and ripped out the pin, the loom, and his hair from the fabric.

15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart isn’t with me? You’ve been deceitful to me three times now, and you haven’t revealed to me the secret of your amazing strength.” 16 Day after day she nagged and pestered him until he was sick to death of hearing it. 17 So finally he told her his secret, “My hair has never been cut because I’ve been a Nazirite to God since my birth. If my head would be shaved, then my strength would leave me, and I’d become weak—I’d be just like any other man.”

18 When Delilah perceived that he’d told her his deepest secret, she summoned the Philistine leaders, “Come here one more time, because he’s told me his secret.” So the Philistine leaders came, bringing the silver coins with them. 19 Then she made him fall asleep on her knees, and she called in a man to shave off his seven locks of hair, causing him to start to weaken, and his additional strength left him. 20 Then she said, “The Philistines are here to get you, Shimshon!” He woke up and thought to himself, “I’ll escape like all the other times and I’ll shake myself loose.” But he didn’t know that Yahweh had left him. 21 So the Philistines seized him, and they gouged out his eyes. They brought him to Gaza and chained him with a pair of bronze shackles, then they put him to work in prison grinding grain. 22 However, over time his hair began to grow back again.

23 Some time later, the Philistine leaders gathered together for a celebration and to offer a large sacrifice to their god Dagon, saying, “Our god has helped us capture our terrible enemy, Shimshon.” 24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has helped us capture our enemy—the devastator of our region who killed so many of us.” 25 Later in the celebration when the drink had liberated their thinking, they said, “Call for Shimshon so he can entertain us.” So they brought Shimshon in from the prison and taunted him to get them all laughing. They made him stand among the pillars of the building 26 and he asked the servant who was guiding him by the hand, “Place my hands against the two pillars holding up the building so I can lean on them.” 27 The building was full of the men and the women, including the Philistine leaders. On the roof there were about three thousand men and women watching the entertainment with Shimshon.

28 Then Shimshon called out to Yahweh, “My master Yahweh, please remember me. Strengthen me please, just this time, oh God, so that I can avenge myself by one last act of vengeance on the Philistines to make them pay for my two eyes.” 29 Then he took hold of the two centre pillars on which the building depended, and pressed out against them—one in his right hand and one in his left. 30 Then he exclaimed, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He stretched out with his strength and the building fell on their leaders and all of the people in it. So he killed more people at his death than he had killed during his life.

31 Then his brothers and all his father’s household went to Gaza and carried his body back. They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial place of his father Manoah. He had helped Israel for twenty years.

11 Now Yiftah the Gileadite was a fierce warrior, but he was a prostitute’s son and his father was Gilead. 2 Gilead’s wife also gave birth to sons for him, and when those sons of the wife grew up, they drove Yiftah out and told him, “You won’t get any inheritance from our father’s estate because you’re a son of another woman.” 3 So Yiftah fled from the presence of his half-brothers and he settled in the Tob region. Unprincipled men associated around Yiftah and went around with him.

4 Some time later, the Ammonites battled against Israel. 5 and that was when the elders of Gilead went to summon Yiftah from the Tob region. 6 Then requested Yiftah, “Come and be our commander so we can fight against the Ammonites.”

7 “Don’t you all hate me? Yiftah asked them. “Didn’t you yourselves drive me out of my father’s house? So why have you all come to me now when you have troubles?”

8 “Well, true,” the Gilead elders replied, “But now we’ve turned back to you. So join with us and fight against the Ammonites, and you’ll become commander over all of who lives in Gilead.”

9 “If you bring me back to fight against the Ammonites,” Yiftah asked them, “and if Yahweh helps me defeat them, is it correct that I’ll actually become your leader?”

10 “Yahweh will be a witness between us,” the Gilead elders responded, “that we’ll most certainly do what you just said.” 11 So Yiftah went with the Gilead elders, and the people set him as commander and leader over themselves. (Yiftah had spoken all those words before Yahweh at Mitspah.)

12 Then Yiftah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, demanding, “What’s happened with respect to me and to you, that you’ve come against me to fight over my land?”

13 The Ammonite king responded to Yiftah’s messengers, “Because the Israelis seized my land when they came out of Egypt. It went from the Arnon river up to the Yabbok river, and over to the Yordan river. Now return the land peaceably.”

14 Then Yiftah sent messengers back to the Ammonite king 15 to tell him, “Yiftah wants you to know that Israel didn’t take land from Moab nor from you Ammonites. 16 However in their coming up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea until arriving at Kadesh. 17 When Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please may we pass through your land,’ the king of Edom wouldn’t listen. Israel likewise sent to the king of Moab, but he wasn’t willing either, so Israel stayed at Kadesh.[ref] 18 Then we went through the wilderness and turned away from the land of Edom and the land of Moab, then went the long way around the eastern border of Moab. They camped on the other side of the Arnon river, but they didn’t go within Moab’s borders, because the Arnon was the border of Moab.[ref] 19 Israel sent messengers to the Amorite King Sihon, the king of Heshbon and asked him, ‘Please, let us pass through your land as far as our place.’[ref] 20 But King Sihon didn’t trust Israel passing through within his border, so he assembled all of his people together and they camped at Jahaz, and he battled with Israel. 21 Then Israel’s God, Yahweh, handed King Sihon and all his people over to Israel and we defeated them. Thus Israel took possession of all of the land of the Amorites inhabiting that region— 22 everything within the Amorite territory from the Arnon river to the Yabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. 23 So since it was Israel’s God Yahweh that expelled the Amorites out of the presence of his people Israel, do you actually think that you can take it now? 24 Wouldn’t you take possession if your god Chemosh, allowed you to? So too all that our God Yahweh has dispossessed ahead of us, we’ll possess that. 25 Are you really better now than Zippor’s son, King Balak of Moab? Did he dare contend with Israel or did he ever wage war against them?[ref] 26 Israel lived in Heshbon and in its villages for three hundred years, and in Aroer and in its villages, and in all the cities that are along the banks of the Arnon—so why didn’t you repossess them during that time? 27 I haven’t done anything wrong to you, but you’re doing wrong in dealing with me by fighting against me. Yahweh, the judge, will decide today between the Israelis and the Ammonites.” 28 But the Ammonite king didn’t take any notice of Yiftah’s message to him.

29 Then Yahweh’s spirit empowered Yiftah, and he passed through the Gilead and Manashsheh, and through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he passed through the Ammonite region, 30 and he made a promise to Yahweh, “If you really give me victory over the Ammonites, 31 then whoever’s the first person to come out of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the battle against the Ammonites, that person will belong to Yahweh, and I will offer him up as a whole burnt offering.” 32 So Yiftah went to the Ammonite territory to fight against them, and Yahweh enabled them to defeat them. 33 Then he attacked them from Aroer and as far as the entrance to Minnith, twenty cities, and then up to Abel-Keramim, slaughtering a huge number. So the Ammonites were subdued by the presence of the Israelis.

34 When Yiftah got back to his house in the Mizpah area, look, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. She was their only child—he didn’t have any son or daughter apart from her. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! Indeed, you’ve made me bow in grief, and you’re among those who cause me pain, because I made a vow to Yahweh and I can’t go back on it.”

36 Then she said to him, “My father, you’ve made a vow to Yahweh. Do to me whatever you promised, after what Yahweh has done for you—total vengeance against your Ammonite enemies.” 37 But she asked her father, “Just do this one thing for me: release me for two months, so I can go away and take some companions. I’ll fall prostrate on the hills and I’ll weep because I’ll never have a chance to marry.” 38 He agreed and then sent her away for two months. She went with some companions, and she wept on the hills because she’d never be a mother. 39 Then at the end of the two months, she returned to her father and he carried out his vow with respect to her so indeed she never had a chance to marry.

After that, it became a custom in Israel 40 that the young women of Israel go to commemorate the daughter of Yiftah the Gileadite for four days during the year.

12 Now the men of Efraim were summoned and they passed northward and they said to Yiftah, “Why did you pass through in order to fight against the Ammonites, but you didn’t call us to go with you? We’re going to burn your house down over you!”

2 “I’ve been involved in very intense disputes—my people against the Ammonites,” Yiftah told them. “When I summoned you all, you didn’t come and rescue me from them. 3 When I could see that you weren’t coming to assist, I took my life into my own hands. I advanced against the Ammonites, and Yahweh gave me victory over them. So why then have you all come here to fight against me today?” 4 Then Yiftah assembled all of the men of Gilead and they battled against Efraim. The men of Gilead struck Efraim because they had said, “You Gilead people are just fugitives from Efraim—living here in the middle of Efraim, in the middle of Manashsheh.” 5 The Gileadites captured the crossing places of the Jordan along Efraim. Then when any of the survivors from Efraim would say, “May I cross over,” the men of Gilead would ask, “Are you an Efraimite?” If he said, “No,” 6 then they’d demand, “Now say: Shibboleth.” But if he said “Sibboleth” because he didn’t have time to think to pronounce it correctly, they would seize him and would slaughter him at those crossing places of the Yordan. Forty-two thousand from Efraim fell at that time.

7 Yiftah the Gileadite led Israel for six years, then he died and was buried among the cities of Gilead.

16 Then Yahweh spoke to Shemuel, “How long are you going to keep mourning for Sha’ul for, when I myself have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I’ll send you to Yishay (Jesse) from Bethlehem, because I’ve seen one of his sons who’d make a good king for me.”

2 “How can I do that?” asked Shemuel. “Sha’ul would kill me if he heard about it.”

“Take a heifer with you,” Yahweh said, “and say, ‘I’ve come to sacrifice to Yahweh.’ 3 Invite Yishay to the sacrifice, and I’ll show you what do to from there, and you should anoint the one I tell you to.”

4 So Shemuel did what Yahweh had told him, and went to Bethlehem. The town elders trembled when they met him, and asked, “Do you come in peace?”

5 “Yes, in peace,” he answered “I’ve come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he purified Yishay and his sons and called them to the sacrifice.

6 When they arrived, Shemuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely this man’s the one that Yahweh wants to anoint.” 7 But Yahweh told him, “Don’t look at his height or outward appearance, because I’ve rejected him. Because it isn’t what a person sees with their eyes, but Yahweh sees their motives and values.”

8 Then Yishay called for Abinadab to walk across in front of Shemuel, but he said again, “Yahweh hasn’t chosen that one.” 9 Then Yishay made Shammah walk across in front, but again he said, “Yahweh hasn’t chosen that one.” 10 So all up, Yishay made seven of his sons walk across in front of Shemuel, but Shemuel told him, “Yahweh hasn’t chosen any of them.” 11 Then Shemuel asked Yishay, “Is that all of your sons?”

“Well, there’s just the youngest,” he answered “but see, he’s out looking after the flock.”[fn]

“Send for him,” Shemuel ordered, “because we won’t do anything else until he gets here.” 12 So he sent for him and brought him in. He was a good-looker with beautiful eyes and red colouring, and Yahweh said, “Stand up and anoint him, because he’s the one.” 13 So Shemuel took the horn full of olive oil and anointed him right there with his brothers, and Yahweh’s spirit rushed onto David from that day onwards. Then Shemuel left and went home to Ramah.

14 Meanwhile, Yahweh’s spirit left Sha’ul, and instead an evil spirit from Yahweh tormented him, 15 and his servants told him, “Look, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our master please get your servants to find a man who knows how to play the harp. Then, whenever the evil spirit from God is on you, then he’ll play it and it’ll be good for you.”

17 “Okay,” Sha’ul responded, “Find a man for me who’s good at playing it, and bring him to me.”

18 Then one of his servants spoke up, “Listen, I’ve noticed one of the sons of Yishay in Bethlehem who knows how to play. He’s also a very powerful warrior, as well as being good looking and wise in what he says. And Yahweh is with him.”

19 So Sha’ul sent messengers to Yishay to tell him, “Your son David who looks after your flock, send him to me.” 20 So Yishay loaded a donkey with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them to King Sha’ul with his son David. 21 When David got to the king, he became his servant, and he was liked so much that he was appointed as the one who carried the king’s equipment. 22 Sha’ul sent a message back to Yishay, saying, “Let David remain in my service, because I really like him.” 23 Then whenever the spirit from God tormented Sha’ul, David would take the harp and play it. That would bring relief to Sha’ul and make him feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.

17 At that time, the Philistines gathered their army divisions together ready for battle. They assembled at Sokoh in Yehudah, and camped between Sokoh and Azekah in Efes-Dammim. 2 Sha’ul and the Israeli warriors gathered and camped in the Elah valley, then they arranged themselves for battle against the Philistines. 3 So the Philistines stood on one hill and the Israelis on the opposite hill, with the valley between them.

4 Then the Philistines sent a champion out from their camp to represent them. His name was Goliat and he came from Gat, and he was almost three metres[fn] tall. 5 He wore a bronze helmet, and his body armour had overlapping plates weighing a total of some fifty-five kilograms. 6 He had bronze armour on his legs, and a bronze plate[fn] between his shoulders. 7 The wooden shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam and his spear time weighed around seven kilograms. His shield-bearer walked in front of him. 8 Goliat stood there and called out to the Israeli warriors, “Why have you all come out to line up for battle? Now, I’m down here as a Philistine, and all of you are Sha’ul’s slaves, so choose a man for yourselves and let him come down here to fight me. 9 If he’s able to fight with me and kill me, then we’ll become your slaves. But if I’m the winner and kill him, then you’ll all become our slaves and work for us.” 10 Then he said, “I personally scoff at Israel’s lines today. Give me a man so we can fight together.” 11 When Sha’ul and the Israelis heard all that, they were discouraged and very afraid.

12 [fn]Now David was the son of Yishay (from the Efrat clan, he lived in Bethlehem in Yehudah) who had eight sons, and by Sha’ul’s time, was quite old compared to other men.[fn] 13 Yishay’s three oldest sons (Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah) had gone to the battle with Sha’ul, 14 but David was the youngest. While the three oldest were with Sha’ul, 15 David went back and forth between Sha’ul’s camp and looking after his father’s flock at Bethlehem.

16 For forty days, the Philistine champion came out and presented himself in the early morning and again in the evening.

17 One day Yishay said to his son David, “Here’s a sack of roasted grain and ten loaves of bread. Take them straight away to your brothers at the camp. 18 And take these ten cuts of cheese to the commander of their unit. Find out how your brothers are doing and bring back anything they want to send to me. 19 Sha’ul and them and the other warriors are in the Elah valley, fighting against the Philistines.”

20 So David got up early in the morning and left the flock with a shepherd, and set out just like Yishay had told him to. When he got to the battleground and the camp, the warriors were just going out to the battle line and they were shouting the battle cry. 21 The Israelis and the Philistines arranged themselves—battle line to battle line. 22 David left what he’d brought with a guard, and ran into the battle line. Then he caught up with his brothers and asked them how they were doing. 23 While he was talking with them, look, the Philistine champion from Gat was coming out with his challenge. Goliat spoke like he had before and David heard it all. 24 But when the Israelis saw the champion, they were terrified and fled away from him. 25 saying to each other, “Have you seen this man who’s coming out? He’s certainly coming to mock Israel! Any man who can defeat him will be made very wealthy by the king, and he’ll give his daughter to him, plus his extended family will be exempt from paying taxes.”

26 “What was it that’ll be done for the man who kills this Philistine and take’s Israel’s disgrace away?” David asked some of the men standing around him. “Because who does that uncircumcised Philistine think he is that he would taunt the army of the living God?” 27 Then the men told him again what would be given to the man who defeats him.

28 But when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the men, he got very angry and scolded him, “Why have you come down here? Who’s looking after those few sheep that you left in the desert? I know you have a big head and you’re just a troublemaker—you just want to watch the battle.”

29 “What have I done now?” David asked. “Wasn’t it just a question?” 30 Then he went over to another group and asked the same question and got the same answer.

31 So it got around what David was saying, and when Sha’ul heard about it, he sent for him. 32 David told the king, “Don’t be discouraged. Your servant will go and fight against this Philistine.”

33 “You can’t go against this Philistine and fight him,” Sha’ul told David. “You’re still a lad, but he’s been a professional warrior since he was young.”

34 “Your servant has been working for his father tending the flock,” David replied. “Sometimes a lion or a bear has come and taken a sheep from the flock 35 and I would go after it and beat it and rescue the sheep from its mouth. If it went to attack me, then I’d grasp it by the jaw and beat it and kill it. 36 Your servant has killed both a lion and a bear, and that uncircumcised Philistine will end up just like them, because he’s insulted the army of the living God.” 37 Then he added, “Yahweh who has saved me from the lion and from the bear, he will be the one to save me from that Philistine.”

“Go then, and Yahweh be with you.” Sha’ul assented. 38 Then Sha’ul had David dressed in his own battle attire, and then in body armour with a bronze helmet. 39 David strapped his sword over the top and then tried to walk because he hadn’t been trained in wearing it. But he told Sha’ul, “I couldn’t walk in all that without practice,” so he took it all off. 40 Then he picked up his staff, and selected five smooth stones from the riverbed. He placed them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag, and picked up his sling and headed towards the Philistine champion.

41 Then Goliat came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer walking in front of him. 42 When he looked and realised that David was a reddish, good-looking lad, he despised him 43 and asked him, “Are you coming to me with a stick because you think I’m a dog?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come over here,” he told David, “and let me give your flesh to the vultures and wild animals.”

45 “You’re coming to me with a sword and spear and dagger,” David shouted back. “But I’m coming to you in the name of commander Yahweh, the God of Israel’s army that you’ve been taunting. 46 Today, Yahweh will help me defeat you and I’ll knock you down and cut off your head. What’s more, I’ll give the Philistine army corpses to the vultures and wild animals today, then everyone will know that there’s a God in Israel. 47 Everyone here will learn that Yahweh doesn’t save with swords or spears, because he’s in charge of the battle and will help us defeat you all.”

48 Then as Goliat went closer to meet David, David ran quickly towards him at the battle line. 49 He slipped his hand into his bag and took out a single stone and slung it towards the Philistine—striking him on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead and he collapsed forwards onto the ground, 50 and so David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone—knocking him down and killing him. Not having a sword with him,[ref] 51 David ran and stood over the Philistine—drawing Goliat’s sword out of its sheath to kill him and cut off his head.[ref]

When the Philistines saw that their powerful champion was dead, they fled 52 and the Israeli warriors started yelling and they chased the Philistines into the valley and as far as the gates of Ekron. The dead bodies of the Philistines could be seen on the road all the way from Shaaraim to Gat and Ekron. 53 When the Israelis returned from chasing the Philistines, they raided the valuables from their camp. 54 David put Goliat’s equipment into his own tent, then he carried his head to Jerusalem.

55 When Sha’ul had seen David going out to meet Goliat, he’d asked Abner, the army commander, “Whose son is this lad, Abner?”

“As surely as you live, your majesty,” replied Abner, “I don’t know.”

56 “Find out whose son he is,” the king had commanded.

57 Then when David had returned from killing the Philistine, Abner brought him to stand in front of Sha’ul, and he was holding Goliat’s head. 58 “Whose son are you, lad?” Sha’ul asked.

“I’m the son of your servant Yishay, who lives in Bethlehem,” replied David.

18 After David had finished speaking to the king, him and Yonatan became close friends, in fact Yonatan really loved him. 2 From that day, Sha’ul kept David with him, and wouldn’t allow him to return home. 3 Then Yonatan and David made an agreement together, because Yonatan loved him as much as he loved himself. 4 Yonatan took off the cloak that he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his armour, his sword and bow, and even his belt. 5 David went on missions wherever Sha’ul sent him and always succeeded. Sha’ul put him in charge of the warriors, and that pleased all the people, as well as Sha’ul’s servants.

6 When they’d all come back after killing the Philistine, the women from the Israeli cities had come out to meet King Sha’ul with singing and dancing—playing tambourines and other instruments with great happiness. 7 However, as they danced they sang,[ref]

“Sha’ul has killed his thousands,

≈and David his tens of thousands.”