Quotes About Leadership

Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and expel me from my fatherís house? Why then have you come to me now, when you are in distress?”

They answered Jephthah, “This is why we now turn to you, that you may go with us, fight the Ammonites, and become leader over all of us who live in Gilead.”

But Jephthah asked them, “If you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me, will I really be your leader?”

And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.”

So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. And Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of the LORD at Mizpah.

Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What do you have against me that you have come to fight against my land?”

Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites

But the king of the Ammonites paid no heed to the message Jephthah sent him.

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah of Gilead. And from there he advanced against the Ammonites.

So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hand.

Then the men of Ephraim assembled and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why have you crossed over to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down with you inside!”

But Jephthah replied, “My people and I had a serious conflict with the Ammonites, and when I called, you did not save me out of their hands.

When I saw that you would not save me, I risked my life and crossed over to the Ammonites, and the LORD delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come today to fight against me?”

Jephthah then gathered all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are fugitives in Ephraim, living in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.”

Jephthah judged Israel six years, and when he died, he was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

After Jephthah, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.

He had thirty sons, as well as thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage to men outside his clan; and for his sons he brought back thirty wives from elsewhere. Ibzan judged Israel seven years.

Then Ibzan died, and he was buried in Bethlehem.

After Ibzan, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel ten years.

After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, judged Israel.

He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. And he judged Israel eight years.

Then Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, died, and he was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

In response, three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Do you not realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?” “I have done to them what they did to me,” he replied.

Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.”