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Judges, starting at chapter 19
{19:1} It happened in those days, when there was no king in Israel,
that there was a certain Levite living on the farther side of the hill
country of Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem
Judah. {19:2} His concubine played the prostitute against him, and
went away from him to her father's house to Bethlehem Judah, and was
there the space of four months. {19:3} Her husband arose, and went
after her, to speak kindly to her, to bring her again, having his
servant with him, and a couple of donkeys: and she brought him into
her father's house; and when the father of the young lady saw him, he
rejoiced to meet him. {19:4} His father-in-law, the young lady's
father, retained him; and he stayed with him three days: so they ate
and drink, and lodged there.
{19:5} It happened on the fourth day, that they arose early in the
morning, and he rose up to depart: and the young lady's father said to
his son-in-law, "Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and
afterward you shall go your way." {19:6} So they sat down, ate, and
drank, both of them together: and the young lady's father said to the
man, "Please be pleased to stay all night, and let your heart be
merry." {19:7} The man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged
him, and he lodged there again. {19:8} He arose early in the morning
on the fifth day to depart; and the young lady's father said, "Please
strengthen your heart and stay until the day declines"; and they both
ate.
{19:9} When the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and
his servant, his father-in-law, the young lady's father, said to him,
"Behold, now the day draws toward evening, please stay all night:
behold, the day grows to an end, lodge here, that your heart may be
merry; and tomorrow go on your way early, that you may go home."
{19:10} But the man wouldn't stay that night, but he rose up and
departed, and came over against Jebus (the same is Jerusalem): and
there were with him a couple of donkeys saddled; his concubine also
was with him.
{19:11} When they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the
servant said to his master, "Please come and let us turn aside into
this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it."
{19:12} His master said to him, "We won't turn aside into the city
of a foreigner, that is not of the children of Israel; but we will
pass over to Gibeah." {19:13} He said to his servant, "Come and let us
draw near to one of these places; and we will lodge in Gibeah, or in
Ramah." {19:14} So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went
down on them near to Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. {19:15} They
turned aside there, to go in to lodge in Gibeah: and he went in, and
sat him down in the street of the city; for there was no man who took
them into his house to lodge.
{19:16} Behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field
at evening: now the man was of the hill country of Ephraim, and he
lived in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites. {19:17} He
lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the
city; and the old man said, "Where are you going? Where did you come
from?"
{19:18} He said to him, "We are passing from Bethlehem Judah to the
farther side of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I
went to Bethlehem Judah. I am going to the house of the LORD; and
there is no man who takes me into his house. {19:19} Yet there is both
straw and provender for our donkeys; and there is bread and wine also
for me, and for your handmaid, and for the young man who is with your
servants: there is no want of anything."
{19:20} The old man said, "Peace be to you; howsoever let all your
wants lie on me; only don't lodge in the street." {19:21} So he
brought him into his house, and gave the donkeys fodder; and they
washed their feet, and ate and drink. {19:22} As they were making
their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows,
surrounded the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the
master of the house, the old man, saying, "Bring out the man who came
into your house, that we may have sex with him!"
{19:23} The man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said
to them, "No, my brothers, please don't act so wickedly; since this
man has come into my house, don't do this folly. {19:24} Behold, here
is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them out now.
Humble them, and do with them what seems good to you; but to this man
don't do any such folly."
{19:25} But the men wouldn't listen to him: so the man laid hold of
his concubine, and brought her out to them; and they had sex with her,
and abused her all night until the morning: and when the day began to
dawn, they let her go. {19:26} Then came the woman in the dawning of
the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord
was, until it was light. {19:27} Her lord rose up in the morning, and
opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and behold,
the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, with
her hands on the threshold.
{19:28} He said to her, "Get up, and let us be going!" but no one
answered. Then he took her up on the donkey; and the man rose up, and
went to his place.
{19:29} When he had come into his house, he took a knife, and laid
hold on his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve
pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel. {19:30} It
was so, that all who saw it said, "There was no such deed done nor
seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land
of Egypt to this day! Consider it, take counsel, and speak."
{20:1} Then all the children of Israel went out, and the
congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba,
with the land of Gilead, to the LORD at Mizpah. {20:2} The chiefs of
all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves
in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen
who drew sword. {20:3} (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the
children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The children of Israel
said, "Tell us, how did this wickedness happen?"
{20:4} The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered,
answered, "I came into Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my
concubine, to lodge. {20:5} The men of Gibeah rose against me, and
surrounded the house by night. They thought to have slain me, and they
forced my concubine, and she is dead. {20:6} I took my concubine, and
cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the
inheritance of Israel; for they have committed lewdness and folly in
Israel. {20:7} Behold, you children of Israel, all of you, give here
your advice and counsel."
{20:8} All the people arose as one man, saying, "None of us will go
to his tent, neither will any of us turn to his house. {20:9} But now
this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it
by lot; {20:10} and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all
the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and a thousand
out of ten thousand, to get food for the people, that they may do,
when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that
they have worked in Israel." {20:11} So all the men of Israel were
gathered against the city, knit together as one man.
{20:12} The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of
Benjamin, saying, "What wickedness is this that is happen among you?
{20:13} Now therefore deliver up the men, the base fellows, who are in
Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel."
But Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers the
children of Israel. {20:14} The children of Benjamin gathered
themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle
against the children of Israel. {20:15} The children of Benjamin were
numbered on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who
drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered
seven hundred chosen men. {20:16} Among all this people there were
seven hundred chosen men left-handed; everyone could sling stones at a
hair-breadth, and not miss. {20:17} The men of Israel, besides
Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men who drew sword: all
these were men of war.
{20:18} The children of Israel arose, and went up to Bethel, and
asked counsel of God; and they said, "Who shall go up for us first to
battle against the children of Benjamin?"
The LORD said, "Judah first."
{20:19} The children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped
against Gibeah. {20:20} The men of Israel went out to battle against
Benjamin; and the men of Israel set the battle in array against them
at Gibeah. {20:21} The children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah,
and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites on that day
twenty-two thousand men. {20:22} The people, the men of Israel,
encouraged themselves, and set the battle again in array in the place
where they set themselves in array the first day. {20:23} The children
of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening; and they
asked of the LORD, saying, "Shall I again draw near to battle against
the children of Benjamin my brother?"
The LORD said, "Go up against him."
{20:24} The children of Israel came near against the children of
Benjamin the second day. {20:25} Benjamin went forth against them out
of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the
children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the
sword.
{20:26} Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went
up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and
fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and
peace offerings before the LORD. {20:27} The children of Israel asked
of the LORD (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those
days, {20:28} and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron,
stood before it in those days), saying, "Shall I yet again go out to
battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease?"
The LORD said, "Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your
hand."
{20:29} Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah. {20:30} The children
of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day,
and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. {20:31}
The children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn
away from the city; and they began to strike and kill of the people,
as at other times, in the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel,
and the other to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
{20:32} The children of Benjamin said, "They are struck down before
us, as at the first." But the children of Israel said, "Let us flee,
and draw them away from the city to the highways."
{20:33} All the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set
themselves in array at Baal Tamar: and the ambushers of Israel broke
forth out of their place, even out of Maareh Geba. {20:34} There came
over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the
battle was severe; but they didn't know that evil was close on them.
{20:35} The LORD struck Benjamin before Israel; and the children of
Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand one hundred
men: all these drew the sword. {20:36} So the children of Benjamin saw
that they were struck; for the men of Israel gave place to Benjamin,
because they trusted the ambushers whom they had set against Gibeah.
{20:37} The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; and the ambushers
drew themselves along, and struck all the city with the edge of the
sword. {20:38} Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and
the ambushers was that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up
out of the city. {20:39} The men of Israel turned in the battle, and
Benjamin began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about thirty
persons; for they said, "Surely they are struck down before us, as in
the first battle." {20:40} But when the cloud began to arise up out of
the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and
behold, the whole of the city went up in smoke to the sky. {20:41} The
men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they
saw that evil had come on them. {20:42} Therefore they turned their
backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the
battle followed hard after them; and those who came out of the cities
destroyed them in its midst. {20:43} They surrounded the Benjamites,
chased them, and trod them down at their resting place, as far as over
against Gibeah toward the sunrise. {20:44} There fell of Benjamin
eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valor. {20:45} They
turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon: and they
gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men, and followed hard
after them to Gidom, and struck of them two thousand men. {20:46} So
that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men
who drew the sword; all these were men of valor. {20:47} But six
hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of
Rimmon, and stayed in the rock of Rimmon four months. {20:48} The men
of Israel turned again on the children of Benjamin, and struck them
with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the livestock,
and all that they found: moreover all the cities which they found they
set on fire.
{21:1} Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, "There
shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin as wife." {21:2} The
people came to Bethel, and sat there until evening before God, and
lifted up their voices, and wept severely. {21:3} They said, "The
LORD, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there
should be today one tribe lacking in Israel?"
{21:4} It happened on the next day that the people rose early, and
built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
{21:5} The children of Israel said, "Who is there among all the tribes
of Israel who didn't come up in the assembly to the LORD?" For they
had made a great oath concerning him who didn't come up to the LORD to
Mizpah, saying, "He shall surely be put to death." {21:6} The children
of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, "There is one
tribe cut off from Israel this day. {21:7} How shall we provide wives
for those who remain, since we have sworn by the LORD that we will not
give them of our daughters to wives?" {21:8} They said, "What one is
there of the tribes of Israel who didn't come up to the LORD to
Mizpah?" Behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the
assembly. {21:9} For when the people were numbered, behold, there were
none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there. {21:10} The
congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the most valiant, and
commanded them, saying, "Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh
Gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones.
{21:11} This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy
every male, and every woman who has lain with a man." {21:12} They
found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young
virgins, who had not known man by lying with him; and they brought
them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. {21:13}
The whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who
were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them. {21:14}
Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they
had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead: and yet so they weren't
enough for them. {21:15} The people grieved for Benjamin, because that
the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. {21:16} Then the
elders of the congregation said, "How shall we provide wives for those
who remain, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?" {21:17}
They said, "There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of
Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel. {21:18} However
we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of
Israel had sworn, saying, 'Cursed is he who gives a wife to
Benjamin.'" {21:19} They said, "Behold, there is a feast of the LORD
from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, on the
east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on
the south of Lebonah." {21:20} They commanded the children of
Benjamin, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, {21:21} and
see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the
dances, then come out of the vineyards, and each man catch his wife of
the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. {21:22} It
shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us,
that we will say to them, 'Grant them graciously to us, because we
didn't take for each man his wife in battle, neither did you give them
to them, otherwise you would now be guilty.'"
{21:23} The children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives,
according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off.
They went and returned to their inheritance, built the cities, and
lived in them. {21:24} The children of Israel departed there at that
time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from
there every man to his inheritance. {21:25} In those days there was no
king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
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