Judges 1:7
And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died. And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
Judges 1:7 stands within the introduction to the book of Judges. It stands within the opening chapters of Judges. That introduction shows that not all of the country had been possessed. Those opening chapters show Israel's failure to carry out the instructions God gave. That failure brought consequent captivity, and help came through the judges or saviours whom the Lord raised up for them.
The verse sets forth the principle of retributive providence that as a man has done, so God requites him. Whoever diminishes God's laws does so by setting holy precepts aside, by explaining away their force and meaning, and by discounting the importance of any portion of the commandments. No one can do this with impunity, whether teacher or taught. He who so treats the distinguished commands of the Most High shall himself be diminished, being reduced by God to a similar condition of dishonor as that to which he assigns them.