Judges key verses

Judges 2:16 “Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.”

God’s mercy in raising deliverers

Judges 2:19 “But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers.”

The downward spiral

Judges 3:9 “But when the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them.”

The pattern of grace

Judges 6:12 “And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, ’The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.’”

God’s call of the fearful Gideon

Judges 7:2 “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ’My own hand has saved me.’”

Salvation is the LORD’s, not human strength

Judges 17:6 “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

The book’s diagnosis

Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

The closing refrain, the need for a king