Category: Judges

Jephthah the Ninth Judge

1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.

2 Gilead’s wife bore him sons, and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.”

3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob; and worthlessandunprincipled men gathered around Jephthah, and went out [on raids] with him.

4 Now it happened after a while that the Ammonites fought against Israel.

5 When the Ammonites fought against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob;

6 and they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, so that we may fight against the Ammonites.”

7 But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me from the house of my father? Why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?”

8 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “This is why we have turned to you now: that you may go with us and fight the Ammonites and become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

9 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back [home] to fight against the Ammonites and the Lordgives them over to me, will I [really] become your head?”

10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lordisthe witness between us; be assured that we will do as you have said.”

11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them. And Jephthahrepeated everything that he had promised before the Lordat Mizpah.

12 Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What is [the problem] between you and me, that you have come against me to fight in my land?”

13 The Ammonites’ king replied to the messengers of Jephthah, “It is because Israel took awaymy land when they came up from Egypt, from the [river] Arnon as far as the Jabbok and [east of] the Jordan; so now, return those lands peaceably.”

14 But Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the Ammonites,

15 and they said to him, “This is what Jephthah says: ‘Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.

16 For when they came up from Egypt, Israel walked through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh;

17 then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let us pass through your land,” but the king of Edom would not listen. Also they sentwordto the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

18 Then they went through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab, and they camped on the other side of the [river] Arnon; but they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the [northern] boundary of Moab.

19 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land to our place.”

20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered together all his people and camped at Jahaz and fought against Israel.

21 The Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them; so Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.

22 They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness [westward] as far as the Jordan.

23 And now the LordGod of Israel has dispossessedanddriven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, so [why] should you possess it?

24 Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And everything that the Lordour God dispossessed before us, we will possess.

25 Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever go to war against them?

26 While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon for three hundred years, why did you not recover your lost lands during that time?

27 So I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me; may the Lord, the [righteous] Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.’ ”

28 But the king of the Ammonites disregarded the message of Jephthah, which he sent to him.

Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

29 Then the Spirit of the Lordcame upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.

30 Jephthah made a vow to the Lordand said, “If You will indeed give the Ammonites into my hand,

31 then whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites, it shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

32 Then Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight with them; and the Lordgave them into his hand.

33 And from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith he struck them, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim (brook by the vineyard), with a very great defeat. So the Ammonites were subduedandhumbled before the Israelites.

34 Then Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, and this is what he saw: his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. And she was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.

35 And when he saw her, he tore his clothes [in grief] and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me great disaster, and you are the cause of ruin to me; for I havemade a vow to the Lord, and I cannot take it back.”

36 And she said to him, “My father, you have made a vow to the Lord; do to me as you have vowed, since the Lordhas taken vengeance for you on your enemies, the Ammonites.”

37 And she said to her father, “Let thisonething be done for me; let me alone for two months, so that I may go to the mountains and weep over myvirginity, I and my companions.”

38 And he said, “Go.” So he sent her away for two months; and she left with her companions, and wept over her virginity on the mountains.

39 At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her as he had vowed; and she had no relations with a man. It became a custom in Israel,

40 that the daughters of Israel went yearly to tell the story of the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

Jephthah and His Successors

1 The men of [the tribe of] Ephraim were summoned [to action], and they crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight with the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? [For that] we will burn your house down upon you.”

2 And Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were in a major conflict with the Ammonites, and when I called you [for help], you did not rescue me from their hand.

3 So when I saw that you were not coming to help me, I took my life in my hands and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lordhanded them over to me. So why have you come up to me this day to fight against me?”

4 Then Jephthah assembled all the men of Gilead and fought with [the tribe of] Ephraim; and the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they had said, “You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim, in the midst of [the tribes of] Ephraim and Manasseh.”

5 And the Gileadites took thefords of the Jordan opposite the Ephraimites; and whenany ofthe fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,”

6 they said to him, “Then say ‘Shibboleth.’ ” And he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could notpronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time forty-two thousand of the Ephraimites fell.

7 Jephthah judged Israel for six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried inone ofthe cities of Gilead.

8 And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.

9 He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage outsidethe family,and he brought in thirty daughters [-in-law] from outside for his sons. He judged Israel for seven years.

10 Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.

11 After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel; and he judged Israel for ten years.

12 Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

13 Now after him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel.

14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys; and he judged Israel for eight years.

15 Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Philistines Oppress Again

1 Now Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lordgave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was infertile and had nochildren.

3 And theAngel of the Lordappeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are infertile and have nochildren,but you shall conceive and give birth to a son.

4 Therefore, be careful not to drink wine or [any other] intoxicating drink, and do not eat anything [ceremonially] unclean.

5 For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be aNazirite [dedicated] to God from birth; and he shall begin to rescue Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

6 Then the woman went and told her husband, saying, “A Man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the Angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask Him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.

7 But He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or [any other] intoxicating drink, nor eat anything [ceremonially] unclean, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.’ ”

8 Then Manoah pleaded with the Lordand said, “O Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do for the boy who is to be born.”

9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the Angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her.

10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the Man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.”

11 Then Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the Man and said to him, “Are you the Man who spoke to this woman?” He said, “I am.”

12 And Manoah said, “Now when your words cometrue,what shall be the boy’s manner of life, and his vocation?”

13 The Angel of the Lordsaid to Manoah, “The woman must pay attention to everything that I said to her.

14 She may not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wine or [any other] intoxicating drink, nor eat anything [ceremonially] unclean. She shall observe everything that I commanded her.”

15 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and let us prepare a young goat for you [to eat].”

16 The Angel of the Lordsaid to Manoah, “Though you detain me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know that he was the Angel of the Lord.

17 Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that when your words cometrue,we may honor you?”

18 But the Angel of the Lordsaid to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful (miraculous)?”

19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord, and He performed miracles while Manoah and his wife looked on.

20 For when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the Angel of the Lordascended in the altar flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this they fell on their faces to the ground.

21 The Angel of the Lorddid not appear again to Manoah or his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the Angel of the Lord.

22 So Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die, because we have seen God.”

23 But his [sensible] wife said to him, “If the Lordhad desired to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have announcedsuch thingsas these at this time.”

24 So the woman [in due time] gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the boy grew and the Lordblessed him.

25 And the Spirit of the Lordbegan tostir him at times inMahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson’s Marriage

1 Samson went down to Timnah and at Timnah he saw a woman, one of the daughters of the Philistines.

2 So he went back and told his father and his mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now get her for me as a wife.”

3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised (pagan) Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because shelooks pleasing to me.”

4 His father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, and that He was seeking an occasion [to take action] against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

5 Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother [to arrange the marriage], and they came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; andsuddenly, a young lioncameroaring toward him.

6 The Spirit of the Lordcame upon him mightily, and he tore the lion apart as one tears apart a young goat, and he had nothing at all in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

7 So he went down and talked with the woman; and she looked pleasing to Samson.

8 When he returned later to take her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion.

9 So he scraped the honey out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave themsome, and they ate it; but he did not tell them he had taken the honey from the body of the lion.

10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for that was the customary thing for young men to do.

11 When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions (wedding attendants) to be with him.

Samson’s Riddle

12 Then Samson said to them, “Let me now ask you a riddle; if you can tell me what it is within the seven days of the feast, and solve it, then I will give you thirty linen tunics (undergarments) and thirty changes of [outer] clothing.

13 But if you are unable to tell me [the answer], then you shall give me thirty linen tunics (undergarments) and thirty changes of [outer] clothing.” And they said to him, “Ask your riddle, so that we may hear it.”

14 So he said to them,

“Out of the eater came something to eat,

And out of the strong came something sweet.”

And they could not solve the riddle in three days.

15 Then on the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to tell us [through you] the [answer to the] riddle, or we will burn you and your father’s household with fire. Have you invited us to make us poor? Is this nottrue?”

16 So Samson’s wife wept before him and said, “You only hate me, you do not love me; you have asked my countrymen a riddle, and have not told [the answer] to me.” And he said to her, “Listen, I have not told my father or my mother [either], so [why] should I tell you?”

17 However Samson’s wife wept before him seven days while their [wedding] feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. Then she told the [answer to the] riddle to her countrymen.

18 So the men of the city said to Samson on the seventh day before sundown,

“What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?”

And he said to them,

“If you had not plowed withmy heifer,

You would not have solved my riddle.”

19 Then the Spirit of the Lordcame upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of them and took their gear, and gave changesof clothesto those who had explained the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house.

20 But Samson’s wife wasgivento hiscompanion who had been his friend.

Samson Burns Philistine Crops

1 But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat [as a gift of reconciliation]; and he said, “I will go in to my wife inherroom.” But her father would not allow him to go in.

2 Her father said, “I really thought you utterly hated her; so I gave her to your companion. Is her younger sister not more beautiful than she? Please take her [as your wife] instead.”

3 Samson said to them, “This time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.”

4 So Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches and turningthe foxestail to tail, he put a torch between each pair of tails.

5 When he had set the torches ablaze, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and he burned up the heap of sheaves and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and olive groves.

6 Then the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And they were told, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took Samson’s wife and gave her to his [chief] companion [at the wedding feast].” So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.

7 Samson said to them, “If this is the way you act, be certain that I will take revenge on you, and [only] after that I will stop.”

8 Then he struck themwithout mercy, a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

9 Then the [army of the] Philistines came up and camped in [the tribal territory of] Judah, and overran Lehi (Jawbone).

10 The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they answered, “We have come up to bind Samson, in order to do to him as he has done to us.”

11 Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Have you not known that the Philistines are rulers over us? What is this that you have done to us?” He said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”

12 They said to him, “We have come down to bind you, so that we may hand you over to the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will notkill me.”

13 So they said to him, “No, we will [only] bind you securely and place you into their hands; but we certainly will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock [of Etam].

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. And the Spirit of the Lordcame upon him mightily, and the ropes on his arms were like flax (linen) that had been burned, and his bondsdropped off his hands.

15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out his hand and took it and killed a thousand men with it.

16 Then Samson said,

“With the jawbone of a donkey,

Heaps upon heaps,

With the jawbone of a donkey

I have struck down a thousand men.”

17 When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi (hill of the jawbone).

18 Then Samson was very thirsty, and he called out to the Lordand said, “You have given this great victory through the hand of Your servant, and now am I to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised (pagans)?”

19 So God split open the hollow place that was at Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his spirit (strength) returned and he was revived. Therefore he named it En-hakkore (spring which is calling), which is at Lehi to this day.

20 And Samson judged Israel in the days of [occupation by] the Philistines for twenty years.

Samson’s Weakness

1 Then Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute there, and went in to her.

2 The Gaziteswere told,“Samson has come here.” So they surroundedthe placeand waited all night at the gate of the city to ambush him. They kept quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is light, we will kill him.”

3 But Samson lay [resting] until midnight, then at midnight he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two door-posts, and pulled them up, [security] bar and all, and he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the hill which is opposite Hebron.

4 After this he fell in love with a [Philistine] woman [living] in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5 So the [five] lords (governors) of the Philistines came to her and said to her, “Persuade him, and see where his great strengthliesand [find out] how we may overpower him so that we may bind him to subdue him. And each of us will give you eleven hundredpiecesof silver.”

6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies and with what you may be bound and subdued.”

7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh cords (tendons) that have not been dried, then I will be weak and be like any [other] man.”

8 Then the Philistine lords brought her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

9 Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he broke the cords as astring of tow breaks when it touches fire. So [the secret of] his strength was not discovered.

10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “See now, you have mocked me and told me lies; now please tell me [truthfully] how you may be bound.”

11 He said to her, “If they bind me tightly with new ropes that have not been used, then I will become weak and be like any [other] man.”

12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in the inner room. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like [sewing] thread.

13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies; tell me [truthfully] with what you may be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair with the web[and fasten it with a pin, then I will become weak and be like any other man.”

14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks (braids) of his hair and wove them into the web]. And she fastened it with the pin [of the loom] and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the [weaver’s] loom and the web.

Delilah Extracts His Secret

15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies.”

16 When she pressured him day after day with her words and pleaded with him, he was annoyed to death.

17 Then [finally] he told her everything that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never been used on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any [other] man.”

18 Then Delilah realized that he had told her everything in his heart, so she sent and called for the Philistine lords, saying, “Come up this once, because he has told me everything in his heart.” Then the Philistine lords came up to her and brought the money [they had promised] in their hands.

19 She made Samson sleep on her knees, and she called a man and had him shave off the seven braids of his head. Then she began to abuse Samson, and his strength left him.

20 She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as I have time after time and shake myself free.” For Samson did not know that the Lordhad departed from him.

21 Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with [two] bronze chains; and he wasforced to bea grinder [of grain into flour at the mill] in the prison.

22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved off.

23 Now the Philistine lords gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to celebrate, for they said,

“Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands!”

24 When the people saw Samson, they praised their god, for they said,

“Our god has handed over our enemy to us,

The ravager of our country,

Who has killed many of us.”

25 Now when they were in high spirits, they said, “Call for Samson, so that he may amuse us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars.

26 Then Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the [roof of the] house rests, so that I may lean against them.”

27 Now the house was full of men and women; all the Philistine lords were there, and on the flat roof were about three thousand men and women who looked on while Samson was entertaining them.

Samson Is Avenged

28 Then Samson called to the Lordand said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this one time, O God, and let me take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes.”

29 Samson took hold of the two middle [support] pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, one with his right hand and the other with his left.

30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he stretched out with all his might [collapsing the support pillars], and the house fell on the lords and on all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.

31 Then his brothers and his father’s entire [tribal] household came down, took him, and brought him up; and they buried him in the tomb of Manoah his father, [which was] between Zorah and Eshtaol. So Samson had judged Israel for twenty years.

Micah’s Idolatry

1 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah.

2 And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundredpiecesof silver which were taken from you, about which you cursed [the thief] and also spoke about in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son before the Lord.”

3 He returned the eleven hundredpiecesof silver to his mother, and she said, “I had truly dedicated the silver from my hand to the Lordfor my son (in his name) to make an image [carved from wood and plated with silver] and a cast image [of solid silver]; so now, I will return it to you.”

4 So when he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundredpiecesof silver and gave them to the silversmith who made of it an image [of silver-plated wood] and a cast image [of solid silver]; and they were in the house of Micah.

5 Now the man Micah had a house of gods (shrine), and he made an ephod and teraphim and dedicatedandinstalled one of his sons, who became his [personal] priest.

6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, from the family [of the tribe] of Judah, who was aLevite; and he was staying there [temporarily].

8 Then the man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah, to stay wherever he could finda place;and as he journeyed, he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah.

9 Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to stay wherever I can finda place.”

10 And Micah said to him, “Live here with me and be a father and a [personal] priest to me, and I will give you tenpiecesof silver each year, a supply of clothing, and your sustenance (room and board).” So the Levite went in.

11 The Levite agreed to live with the man, and the young man became to Micah like one of his sons.

12 So Micah dedicated (installed) the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah.

13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lordwill favor meandmake me prosper because I have a Levite as my priest.”

Danites Seek Territory

1 In those days there was no king in Israel; and in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance [of land] for themselves to live in, for until then aninheritance had not been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel.

2 So the sons of Dan sent from the total number of their [extended] family five brave men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to scout the land and to explore it; and they said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there.

3 When they passed near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite, and they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here?”

4 And he said to them, “Micah has done this and that for me, and he has hired me and I have become his priest.”

5 And they said to him, “Please ask of God, so that we may know whether our journey on which we are going will be successful.”

6 The priest said to them, “Go in peace; the journey on which you are going is acceptable to the Lord.”

7 Then the five men went on and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, [how they were] living securely in the style of the Sidonians, quiet and peaceful; and there was no oppressive magistrate in the land humiliatingthemin anything, and they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone.

8 The five men came back [home] to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them, “Whatdoyouhave to report?”

9 They said, “Arise, let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good (fertile). Will you sit stillanddo nothing? Do not hesitate to go, to enter, to take possession of the land.

10 When you enter, you will come to people [feeling] safe and secure with a spacious land [widely extended on all sides]; for God has given it into your hands—a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”

11 Then from the [tribal] family of the Danites, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, six hundred men armed with weapons of war set out.

12 They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore they have called that placeMahaneh-dan to this day; it is west of Kiriath-jearim.

13 They went on from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.

Danites Take Micah’s Idols

14 Then the five men who had gone to scout the country of Laish said to their relatives, “Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod, teraphim, an image [of silver-plated wood], and a cast image [of solid silver]? Now therefore, consider what you should do.”

15 So they turned in that direction and came to the house of the young Levite, at the home of Micah, and asked him how he was doing.

16 Now the six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the sons of Dan, stood at the entrance of the gate.

17 Now the five men who had gone to scout the land went up and entered the house and took the image [of silver-plated wood], the ephod, the teraphim, and the cast image [of solid silver], while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

18 When these [five men] went into Micah’s house and took the [plated] image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the cast image, the priest asked them, “What are you doing?”

19 They said to him, “Keep quiet, put your hand over your mouth and come with us, and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be a priest to a tribe and family in Israel?”

20 The priest’s heart was glad [to hear that], and he took the ephod, the teraphim, and the image, and went among the people.

21 So they turned and left, and they put the children, the livestock, and the valuablesandsupplies in front of them.

22 When they had gone some distance from the house of Micah, the men who were [living] in the houses near Micah’s house assembled [as a militia] and overtook the sons of Dan.

23 They shouted to the Danites, who turned and said to Micah, “What is yourreasonfor assembling [against us]?”

24 He said, “You have taken away my gods which I have made, and the priest, and have gone away; what else do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What is yourreason?’ ”

25 The sons of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice [of complaint] be heard among us, or else angry men will assault you and you will lose your life, along with the lives of [everyone in] your household.”

26 Then the Danites went on their way; and Micah saw that they were too strong for him, so he turned and went back to his house.

27 They took the [idolatrous] things that Micah had made, and his priest, and they came to Laish, to a people who were quiet and secure; and they struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire.

28 And there was no one to rescue them because it was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley which belongs to Beth-rehob. And they rebuilt the city and lived in it.

29 They named the city Dan, after Dan their forefather who was born to Israel (Jacob); however, the original name of the city was Laish.

30 The [tribe of] the sons of Dan set up the image [of silver-plated wood] for themselves; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son ofMoses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivityandexile from the land.

31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s [silver-plated wooden] image which he had made,and kept itthroughout the time that the house (tabernacle) of God was at Shiloh.

A Levite’s Concubine Degraded

1 Now it happened in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that a certain Levite living [as an alien] in the most remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, who took aconcubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah.

2 But his concubine was unfaithful to him, and left him and went to her father’s house in Bethlehem of Judah, and stayed there for a period of four months.

3 Then her husband arose and went after her to speak kindlyandtenderly to her in order to bring her back, taking with him his servant and a pair of donkeys. So she brought him into her father’s house, and when the father of the girl saw him, he was happy to meet him.

4 So his father-in-law, the girl’s father, detained him; and he stayed there with him for three days. So they ate and drank, and he lodged there.

5 On the fourth day they got up early in the morning, and the Levite prepared to leave; but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen yourself with a piece of bread, and afterward go your way.”

6 So both men sat down and ate and drank together; and the girl’s father said to the man, “Please be willing to spend the night and enjoy yourself.”

7 Then the man got up to leave, but his father-in-law urged him [strongly to remain]; so he spent the night there again.

8 On the fifth day he got up early in the morning to leave, but the girl’s father said, “Please strengthen yourself, and wait until the end of the day.” So both of them ate.

9 When the man and his concubine and his servant got up to leave, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Behold, now the day has drawn to a close; please spend the night. Look, now the day comes to an end; spend the night here and celebrate, enjoy yourself. Then tomorrow you may get up early for your journey and gohome.”

10 But the man was not willing to stay the night; so he got up and left and came toa placeopposite Jebus (that is Jerusalem). With him were two saddled donkeys [and his servant] and his concubine.

11 When they were near Jebus, the day was almost gone, and the servant said to his master, “Please come and let us turn aside into this Jebusite city and spend the night in it.”

12 But his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into a city of foreigners who are not of the sons (descendants) of Israel. We will go on as far as Gibeah.”

13 And he said to his servant, “Come and let us approach one oftheseplaces: and we will spend the night in Gibeah or in Ramah.”

14 So they passed by and went on their way, and the sun set on them near Gibeah, which belongs to [the tribe of] Benjamin,

15 and they turned aside there to go in and spend the night in Gibeah. And the Levite went in and sat down in the open square of the city, because no man invited them into his house to spend the night.

16 Then behold,there wasan old manwhowas coming out of the field from his work at evening. He was from the hill country of Ephraim but was staying in Gibeah, and the men of the place were sons (descendants) of Benjamin.

17 When he looked up, he saw the traveler [and his companions] in the city square; and the old man said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”

18 The Levite replied, “We are passing through from Bethlehem [in the territory] of Judah to the most remote part of the hill country of Ephraim; I am from there. I went to Bethlehem of Judah, but I amnowgoing [home] to my house, and there is no man [in the city] who will take me into his house [for the night].

19 Yet we have both straw and feed for our donkeys, and also bread and wine for me, and foryour handmaid, and for the young man who is with your servant; there is no lack of anything.”

20 Then the old man said, “Peace be to you. Onlyleaveall your needs to me; and do not spend the night in the open square.”

21 So he brought him into his house and fed the donkeys; and they washed their feet and ate and drank.

22 While they werecelebrating, behold, men of the city, certain worthlessandevil men, surrounded the house, pounding on the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came to your house so that we may have relations with him.”

23 Then the man, the master of the house, went out and said to them, “No, my fellow citizens, please do not act so wickedly. Since this man has come to my house [as my guest], do not commit this sacrilege.

24 Here is my virgin daughter and this man’s concubine. I will bring them out now; abuseandhumiliate them and do to themwhatever you want, but do not commit this act ofsacrilege against this man.”

25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man took the Levite’s concubine and brought her outside to them; and they had relations with her and abused her all night until morning; and when daybreak came, they let her go.

26 At daybreak the woman came and collapsed at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was [fully] light.

27 When her master got up in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, he saw his concubine lying at the door of the house, and her hands were on the threshold.

28 He said to her, “Get up, and let us go.” But there was no answer [for she had died]. Then he put her [body] on the donkey; and the man left and went home.

29 When he arrived at his house, he took a knife, and taking hold of his [dead] concubine, he cut her [corpse] limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her [body parts] throughout all the territory of Israel.

30 All who sawthe dismembered partssaid, “Nothing like this haseverhappened or been seen from the day that the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it, take counsel, and speak [your minds]!”

Resolve to Punish the Guilty

1 Then all the sons of Israel from Dan [in the north] to Beersheba [in the south], including the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lordat Mizpah.

2 The chiefs of all the people of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand men on foot who drew the sword.

3 (Now the Benjamites [in whose territory the crime was committed] heard that the [other tribes of the] sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the sons of Israel said, “How did this evil thing happen?”

4 So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, replied, “I had come with my concubine to spend the night in Gibeah, [a town] which belongs to [the tribe of] Benjamin.

5 But the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they raped my concubine [so brutally] that she died.

6 So I took my concubine and cut her [corpse] in pieces and sent her [body parts] throughout the land of the inheritance of Israel; for the men of Gibeah have committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.

7 Now then, all you sons of Israel, all of you, give your advice and counsel here [regarding what should be done].”

8 Then all the people stood [unified] as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, and none of us will return to his home [until this is settled].

9 But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah;we will go upby lot against it,

10 and we will take ten men out of a hundred throughout the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand to bring provisions for the men, so that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, they may punish them for all the despicable acts which they have committed in Israel.”

11 So all the men of Israel assembled against the city, united as one man.

12 Then the tribes of Israel sent men through the entire tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this evil thing that has been done among you?

13 Now therefore, turn over the men [involved], theworthlessandwicked men in Gibeah, so that we may put them to death and removethiswickedness from Israel.” But the Benjamites would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.

14 Then the [tribe of the] sons of Benjamin gathered from the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the [other] sons of Israel.

15 And the Benjamites assembled out of their cities at that time twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who assembled seven hundred chosen men.

16 Out of all these people were seven hundred choiceleft-handed men; each one could sling stones at [a target no wider than] a hair and notmiss.

17 Then the men of Israel, other than Benjamin, assembled four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of war.

Civil War, Benjamin Defeated

18 The men of Israel arose and went up toBethel and asked of God and said, “Which of us shall take the lead to battle against the sons [tribe] of Benjamin?” And the Lordsaid, “Judah [shall go up] first.”

19 Then the [fighting men of the] sons of Israel arose in the morning and camped against Gibeah.

20 The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and assembled in battle formation against them at Gibeah.

21 The sons of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and struck to the ground on that day twenty-two thousand [fighting] men of Israel.

22 But the people, the [fighting] men of Israel, took courageandstrengthened themselves and again set their battle line in the same place where they formed it the first day.

23 The sons of Israel went up and wept before the Lorduntil evening, and asked of the Lord, “Shall we advance again to battle against the sons of our brother Benjamin?” And the Lordsaid, “Go up against them.”

24 So the sons of Israel came against the sons of Benjamin the second day.

25 And [the fighting men from the tribe of] Benjamin went out of Gibeah against them the second day and again struck to the ground the sons of Israel, eighteen thousand men, all of whom were swordsmen.

26 Then all the sons of Israel and all the people went up and came to Bethel and wept; and they sat there before the Lordand fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

27 And the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord(for the ark of the covenant of God was there [at Bethel] in those days,

28 and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron,ministeredbefore it in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin, or shall I quit?” And the Lordsaid, “Go up, for tomorrow I will hand them over to you.”

29 So Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah.

30 The [fighting men of the] sons of Israel went up against the sons of Benjamin on the third day and placed themselves in battle formation against Gibeah as at other times.

31 The Benjamites went out againsttheir army and were lured away from the city, and they began to strike and kill some of the people as at other times, on the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, and in the open country, about thirty men of Israel.

32 And the Benjamites said, “They are defeated before us, as at the first.” But the sons of Israel said, “Let us flee and lure them away from the city to the highways.”

33 Then all the men of Israel got up from their places and placed themselves in battle formation at Baal-tamar; and the men of Israel [who were] in ambush rushed from their place in the plain of Maareh-geba.

34 When the ten thousand choice [fighting] men from all Israel came against Gibeah, the battle was hardandfierce; but the Benjamites did not realize that disaster was about to strike them.

35 And the Lordstruck down [the tribe of] Benjamin before Israel, so that the sons of Israel destroyed twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin that day, all of whom were swordsmen.

36 So the Benjamites realized that they were defeated. Then men of Israel gave ground to the Benjamites, because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had placed against Gibeah.

37 Then the men in ambush quickly rushed and attacked Gibeah; and the men in ambush also deployed and struck the entire city with the edge of the sword.

38 Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise from the city.

39 So the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill about thirty men of Israel, for they said, “Certainly they are defeated before us as in the first battle!”

40 But when the [signal] cloud began to rise out of the city in a column of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and behold, the entire city went upin smoketo heaven.

41 When the men of Israel turned backagain, the men of Benjamin were terrified, for they saw that disaster had fallen upon them.

42 Therefore, they turned their backs before the men of Israel [and fled] toward the direction of the wilderness, but the battle followedandovertook them. As the [fighting men of the] sons of Benjamin ran among them, the Israelites of the cities came out and destroyed them.

43 They surrounded [the men of] Benjamin, pursued them relentlessly, and overtook them opposite Gibeah toward the east.

44 Thus eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell, all of these braveandable warriors.

45 The survivors [of Benjamin] turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and Israel caught five thousand of them on the roads and overtook them at Gidom and killed two thousand of them.

46 So all of Benjamin who fell that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword, all of them braveandable warriors.

47 But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months.

48 The men of Israel turned back against [the tribe of] the sons of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city [of Gibeah] and the livestock and all that they found. They also set on fire all the [surrounding] towns which they found.