Study Desk

She sayde: My father, yf thou hast opened thy mouth vnto the LORDE, then do vnto me as it is proceaded out of yi mouth, acordinge as the LORDE hath aueged the of thyne enemies the children of Ammon.

And they of Ephraim made insurreccion, & wente northwarde, & sayde vnto Iephthae: Wherfore wetest thou to the battayll agaynst the children of Ammon, & hast not called vs, that we mighte go with the? We wil burne thy house and the with fyre.

Iephthae sayde vnto the: I and my people had a greate matter with ye children of Ammon, and I cried vpon you, but ye helped me not out of their handes.

Now whan I sawe yt there was no helper, I put my soule in my honde, and wente agaynst the children of Ammon, and the LORDE delyuered them in to my hande. Wherfore come ye vp to me, to fighte agaynst me?

And the children of Israel wroughte more euell before the LORDE, & the LORDE gaue them ouer into the hades of the Philistynes fortye yeares.

But there was a man at Zarga, of one of ye kynreds of the Danites, named Manoah, and his wife was vnfrutefull & bare him no children.

Then wepte Samsons wife before him, and sayde: Thou art displeased at me, and louest me not: thou hast expressed a darke sentence vnto the children of my people, and hast not tolde it me. But he sayde vnto her: Beholde, I haue not tolde it vnto my father and mother, and shulde I tell it the?

And she wepte before him those seuen dayes, whyle they had ye feast. But on the seueth daye he tolde it her, for she was so importune vpon him. And she expounded the darke sentence vnto the children of her people.

But the sixe hundreth men, which were of ye children of Dan, stode ready harnessed before ye gate.

And whan they turned them and wente thence, they sent their children, and catell, and soch precious thynges as they had, before them.

And the children of Dan set vp the ymage for them, and Ionathan ye sonne of Gerson the sonne of Manasse, & his sonnes were prestes amoge the trybe of ye Danites, vnto the tyme yt they were led awaye captyue out of the londe.

Not withstondinge his master sayde vnto him: I wil not turne in to ye cite of the aleauntes, that are not of the children of Israel, but I wyl go ouer vnto Gibea.

And wha their hert was now ioyfull, the men of the cyte, the children of Belial, came, and compased the house rounde aboute, and rußshed at ye dore, and sayde vnto ye olde man, which was the good man of ye house: Bringe out the ma which is come in to thy house, that we maye knowe him.

Who so euer sawe it, sayde: Soch a thinge hath not bene done ner sene, sence the tyme that ye children of Israel departed out of the londe of Egipte, vnto this daye. Now as concernynge this, take youre advysement, and geue yor councell, and shew it forth.

Then wente the children of Israel out and gathered a congregacion together as one man, fro Dan vntill Bersaba, and from the londe of Gilead vnto the LORDE to Mispa:

But the children of BenIamin herde, how that ye children of Israel were gone vp vnto Mispa. And the children of Israel sayde: Tell vs, how happened this euell?

Beholde, here are ye children of Israel: aduyse you well, and take this matter in hande.

Delyuer here therfore the men the children of Belial at Gibea, that we maye put them to death, and do awaye the euell out of Israel. Neuertheles the children of BenIamin wolde not folowe the voyce of their brethren the children of Israel,

but gathered them selues out of ye cities vnto Gibea, to go forth in battayll agaynst the children of Israel.

And the same daye were there nombred of the children of BenIamin out of the cities, sixe and twentye thousande men, that drue the swerde, beside the citesyns of Gibea of whom there were tolde seue hundreth chosen men.