Shofetim, starting at chapter 19
{19:1} It happened in those days, when there was no king in
Yisra'el, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the farther
side of the hill-country of Efrayim, who took to him a concubine out
of Beit-Lechem-Yehudah. {19:2} His concubine played the prostitute
against him, and went away from him to her father's house to
Beit-Lechem-Yehudah, 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 abode
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, and ate and
drink, 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 ate,
both of them. {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 get you early on your way, 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 Yevus (the same is
Yerushalayim): and there were with him a couple of donkeys saddled;
his concubine also was with him. {19:11} When they were by Yevus, the
day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, Please come and
let us turn aside into this city of the Yevusi, 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 Yisra'el; but we will pass
over to Gevah. {19:13} He said to his servant, Come and let us draw
near to one of these places; and we will lodge in Gevah, or in Ramah.
{19:14} So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down on
them near to Gevah, which belongs to Binyamin. {19:15} They turned
aside there, to go in to lodge in Gevah: 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 even: now the man was of the hill-country
of Efrayim, and he sojourned in Gevah; but the men of the place were
Binyamini. {19:17} He lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in
the street of the city; and the old man said, Where go you? and whence
come you? {19:18} He said to him, We are passing from
Beit-Lechem-Yehudah to the farther side of the hill-country of
Efrayim; from there am I, and I went to Beit-Lechem-Yehudah: and I am
[now] 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, Shalom 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, beset the house round about, beating at the door; and
they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring
forth the man who came into your house, that we may know 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; seeing that this man is
come into my house, don't do this folly. {19:24} Behold, here is my
daughter a virgin, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and
humble you 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 on his concubine, and brought her forth to
them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the
morning: and when the day began to spring, 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, Up, and let us be going; but
none answered: then he took her up on the donkey; and the man rose up,
and got him to his place. {19:29} When he was 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
Yisra'el. {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 Yisra'el
came up out of the land of Mitzrayim to this day: consider it, take
counsel, and speak.
{20:1} Then all the children of Yisra'el went out, and the
congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Be'er-Sheva,
with the land of Gil`ad, to the LORD at Mitzpah. {20:2} The chiefs of
all the people, even of all the tribes of Yisra'el, presented
themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand
footmen who drew sword. {20:3} (Now the children of Binyamin heard
that the children of Yisra'el had gone up to Mitzpah.) The children of
Yisra'el said, Tell us, how was this wickedness brought to pass?
{20:4} The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered,
answered, I came into Gevah that belongs to Binyamin, I and my
concubine, to lodge. {20:5} The men of Gevah rose against me, and
beset the house round about me by night; me they thought to have
slain, and my concubine they forced, 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 Yisra'el; for they have committed
lewdness and folly in Yisra'el. {20:7} Behold, you children of
Yisra'el, all of you, give here your advice and counsel. {20:8} All
the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his
tent, neither will we any of us turn to his house. {20:9} But now this
is the thing which we will do to Gevah: [we will go up] against it by
lot; {20:10} and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all
the tribes of Yisra'el, 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 Gevah of Binyamin, according to all the
folly that they have worked in Yisra'el. {20:11} So all the men of
Yisra'el were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.
{20:12} The tribes of Yisra'el sent men through all the tribe of
Binyamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is happen among you?
{20:13} Now therefore deliver up the men, the base fellows, who are in
Gevah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Yisra'el.
But Binyamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers the
children of Yisra'el. {20:14} The children of Binyamin gathered
themselves together out of the cities to Gevah, to go out to battle
against the children of Yisra'el. {20:15} The children of Binyamin
were numbered on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men
who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gevah, 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 Yisra'el, besides
Binyamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men who drew sword: all
these were men of war. {20:18} The children of Yisra'el arose, and
went up to Beit-El, and asked counsel of God; and they said, Who shall
go up for us first to battle against the children of Binyamin? the
LORD said, Yehudah [shall go up] first. {20:19} The children of
Yisra'el rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gevah. {20:20}
The men of Yisra'el went out to battle against Binyamin; and the men
of Yisra'el set the battle in array against them at Gevah. {20:21} The
children of Binyamin came forth out of Gevah, and destroyed down to
the ground of the Yisra'elites on that day Twenty-two thousand men.
{20:22} The people, the men of Yisra'el, 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 Yisra'el went up and
wept before the LORD until even; and they asked of the LORD, saying,
Shall I again draw near to battle against the children of Binyamin my
brother? the LORD said, Go up against him. {20:24} The children of
Yisra'el came near against the children of Binyamin the second day.
{20:25} Binyamin went forth against them out of Gevah the second day,
and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Yisra'el again
eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword. {20:26} Then all the
children of Yisra'el, and all the people, went up, and came to
Beit-El, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day
until even; and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings
before the LORD. {20:27} The children of Yisra'el asked of the LORD
(for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, {20:28}
and Pinechas, the son of El`azar, the son of Aharon, stood before it
in those days), saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the
children of Binyamin my brother, or shall I cease? the LORD said, Go
up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand. {20:29} Yisra'el
set liers-in-wait against Gevah round about. {20:30} The children of
Yisra'el went up against the children of Binyamin on the third day,
and set themselves in array against Gevah, as at other times. {20:31}
The children of Binyamin 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 Beit-El,
and the other to Gevah, in the field, about thirty men of Yisra'el.
{20:32} The children of Binyamin said, They are struck down before us,
as at the first. But the children of Yisra'el said, Let us flee, and
draw them away from the city to the highways. {20:33} All the men of
Yisra'el rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at
Ba`al-Tamar: and the liers-in-wait of Yisra'el broke forth out of
their place, even out of Ma`areh-Geva. {20:34} There came over against
Gevah ten thousand chosen men out of all Yisra'el, and the battle was
sore; but they didn't know that evil was close on them. {20:35} The
LORD struck Binyamin before Yisra'el; and the children of Yisra'el
destroyed of Binyamin that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men:
all these drew the sword. {20:36} So the children of Binyamin saw that
they were struck; for the men of Yisra'el gave place to Binyamin,
because they trusted to the liers-in-wait whom they had set against
Gevah. {20:37} The liers-in-wait hurried, and rushed on Gevah; and the
liers-in-wait drew themselves along, and struck all the city with the
edge of the sword. {20:38} Now the appointed sign between the men of
Yisra'el and the liers-in-wait was that they should make a great cloud
of smoke rise up out of the city. {20:39} The men of Yisra'el turned
in the battle, and Binyamin began to strike and kill of the men of
Yisra'el 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 Binyamini
looked behind them; and, behold, the whole of the city went up in
smoke to the sky. {20:41} The men of Yisra'el turned, and the men of
Binyamin were dismayed; for they saw that evil had come on them.
{20:42} Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Yisra'el
to the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them;
and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst of
it. {20:43} They enclosed the Binyamini round about, [and] chased
them, [and] trod them down at [their] resting-place, as far as over
against Gevah toward the sunrise. {20:44} There fell of Binyamin
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 Gid`om, and struck of them two thousand men. {20:46} So
that all who fell that day of Binyamin 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 abode in the rock of Rimmon four months. {20:48} The men
of Yisra'el turned again on the children of Binyamin, and struck them
with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the cattle, and
all that they found: moreover all the cities which they found they set
on fire.
{21:1} Now the men of Yisra'el had sworn in Mitzpah, saying, There
shall not any of us give his daughter to Binyamin as wife. {21:2} The
people came to Beit-El, and sat there until evening before God, and
lifted up their voices, and wept sore. {21:3} They said, the LORD, the
God of Yisra'el, why has this happened in Yisra'el, that there should
be today one tribe lacking in Yisra'el? {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 Yisra'el
said, Who is there among all the tribes of Yisra'el 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 Mitzpah, saying, He shall surely
be put to death. {21:6} The children of Yisra'el repented them for
Binyamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from
Yisra'el this day. {21:7} How shall we do for wives for those who
remain, seeing 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 Yisra'el who didn't come up to the LORD to Mitzpah? Behold,
there came none to the camp from Yavesh-Gil`ad to the assembly. {21:9}
For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none of the
inhabitants of Yavesh-Gil`ad there. {21:10} The congregation sent
there twelve thousand men of the most valiant, and commanded them,
saying, Go and strike the inhabitants of Yavesh-Gil`ad 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 by man. {21:12} They found among the
inhabitants of Yavesh-Gil`ad 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 Kana`an. {21:13} The whole
congregation sent and spoke to the children of Binyamin who were in
the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed shalom to them. {21:14} Binyamin
returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had
saved alive of the women of Yavesh-Gil`ad: and yet so they weren't
enough for them. {21:15} The people repented them for Binyamin,
because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Yisra'el.
{21:16} Then the Zakenim of the congregation said, How shall we do for
wives for those who remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of
Binyamin? {21:17} They said, There must be an inheritance for those
who are escaped of Binyamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from
Yisra'el. {21:18} However we may not give them wives of our daughters,
for the children of Yisra'el had sworn, saying, Cursed be he who gives
a wife to Binyamin. {21:19} They said, Behold, there is a feast of the
LORD from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Beit-El, on
the east side of the highway that goes up from Beit-El to Shekhem, and
on the south of Levonah. {21:20} They commanded the children of
Binyamin, 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 you out of the vineyards, and catch you every man
his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Binyamin.
{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, else would you now be guilty. {21:23} The
children of Binyamin did so, and took them wives, according to their
number, of those who danced, whom they carried off: and they went and
returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and lived in
them. {21:24} The children of Yisra'el 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 Yisra'el: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
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