And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehemjudah. And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them. And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands.
Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon. And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brethren, and went over to Shechem: and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD. Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
And Abimelech rose up, and all the people that were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies. So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. And Abimelech dwelt at Arumah: and Zebul thrust out Gaal and his brethren, that they should not dwell in Shechem.
And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.
Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh. And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with them. And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.