(6:2–6). This is the first indication that things may be getting worse. Indeed, Israel “was greatly impoverished.” The “impoverished” (see “weak” in Ps. 82:3, 4; “poor” in Ps. 113:7; Amos 2:7; 4:1, 8:6), however, are ones whom God looks upon favorably, especially when they cry out, as the Israelites again do here (v. 6; see 3:9, 15; 4:3). As in the previous stories in the book of Judges, God will act; and this pattern itself has remarkable theological significance. Even those who persist in doing