016:023 The lords of the Philistines gathered them together to offer
a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice;
for they said, Our god has delivered Samson our enemy
into our hand.
016:024 When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said,
Our god has delivered into our hand our enemy, and the destroyer
of our country, who has slain many of us.
016:025 It happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said,
Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. They called
for Samson out of the prison; and he made sport before them.
They set him between the pillars:
016:026 and Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, Allow me
that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house rests,
that I may lean on them.
016:027 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords
of the Philistines were there; and there were on the roof about
three thousand men and women, who saw while Samson made sport.
016:028 Samson called to Yahweh, and said, Lord Yahweh, remember me,
Please, and strengthen me, Please, only this once, God, that I
may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
016:029 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the
house rested, and leaned on them, the one with his right hand,
and the other with his left.
016:030 Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines.
He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell
on the lords, and on all the people who were therein.
So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those
who he killed in his life.
016:031 Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down,
and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between
Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial site of Manoah his father.
He judged Israel twenty years.
017:001 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
017:002 He said to his mother, The eleven hundred [pieces] of silver
that were taken from you, about which you did utter a curse,
and did also speak it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me;
I took it. His mother said, Blessed be my son of Yahweh.
017:003 He restored the eleven hundred [pieces] of silver to his mother;
and his mother said, I most certainly dedicate the silver
to Yahweh from my hand for my son, to make an engraved image
and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it to you.
017:004 When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took
two hundred [pieces] of silver, and gave them to the founder,
who made of it an engraved image and a molten image:
and it was in the house of Micah.
017:005 The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim,
and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
017:006 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did
that which was right in his own eyes.
017:007 There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family
of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there.
017:008 The man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah,
to sojourn where he could find [a place], and he came
to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah,
as he traveled.
017:009 Micah said to him, Whence come you? He said to him, I am
a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I go to sojourn where I
may find [a place].
017:010 Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father
and a priest, and I will give you ten [pieces] of silver
by the year, and a suit of clothing, and your food.
So the Levite went in.
017:011 The Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young
man was to him as one of his sons.
017:012 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest,
and was in the house of Micah.
017:013 Then said Micah, Now know I that Yahweh will do me good,
seeing I have a Levite to my priest.
018:001 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days
the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in;
for to that day [their] inheritance had not fallen to them
among the tribes of Israel.
018:002 The children of Dan sent of their family five men from their
whole number, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol,
to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said to them,
Go, search the land. They came to the hill country of Ephraim,
to the house of Micah, and lodged there.
018:003 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice
of the young man the Levite; and they turned aside there,
and said to him, Who brought you here? and what do you in this
place? and what have you here?
018:004 He said to them, Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me,
and he has hired me, and I am become his priest.
018:005 They said to him, Ask counsel, we pray you, of God, that we
may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.
018:006 The priest said to them, Go in peace: before Yahweh is your
way wherein you go.
018:007 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw
the people who were therein, how they lived in security,
after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure;
for there was none in the land, possessing authority,
that might put [them] to shame in anything, and they were far
from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with any man.
018:008 They came to their brothers to Zorah and Eshtaol:
and their brothers said to them, What [say] you?
018:009 They said, Arise, and let us go up against them;
for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good:
and are you still? don't be slothful to go and to enter
in to possess the land.
018:010 When you go, you shall come to a people secure, and the land
is large; for God has given it into your hand, a place
where there is no want of anything that is in the earth.
018:011 There set forth from there of the family of the Danites,
out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men girt with
weapons of war.
018:012 They went up, and encamped in Kiriath Jearim, in Judah:
therefore they called that place Mahaneh Dan, to this day;
behold, it is behind Kiriath Jearim.
018:013 They passed there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came
to the house of Micah.
018:014 Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered,
and said to their brothers, Do you know that there is in
these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and an engraved image,
and a molten image? now therefore consider what you have to do.
018:015 They turned aside there, and came to the house of the young
man the Levite, even to the house of Micah, and asked him
of his welfare.
018:016 The six hundred men girt with their weapons of war, who were
of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate.
018:017 The five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came
in there, and took the engraved image, and the ephod,
and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood
by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men girt
with weapons of war.
018:018 When these went into Micah's house, and fetched the engraved image,
the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest
said to them, What do you?
018:019 They said to him, Hold your peace, lay your hand on your mouth,
and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest:
is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man,
or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?
018:020 The priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim,
and the engraved image, and went in the midst of the people.
018:021 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and
the livestock and the goods before them.
018:022 When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who
were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together,
and overtook the children of Dan.
018:023 They cried to the children of Dan. They turned their faces,
and said to Micah, What ails you, that you come with
such a company?
018:024 He said, you have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest,
and are gone away, and what have I more? and how then say
you to me, What ails you?
018:025 The children of Dan said to him, "Don't let your voice be heard
among us, lest angry fellows fall on you, and you lose your life,
with the lives of your household."
018:026 The children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw
that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back
to his house.
018:027 They took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom
he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure,
and struck them with the edge of the sword; and they burnt
the city with fire.
018:028 There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon,
and they had no dealings with any man; and it was in
the valley that lies by Beth Rehob. They built the city,
and lived therein.
018:029 They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan
their father, who was born to Israel: however the name
of the city was Laish at the first.
018:030 The children of Dan set up for themselves the engraved image:
and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, he and his
sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day
of the captivity of the land.
018:031 So they set them up Micah's engraved image which he made,
all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.
019:001 It happened in those days, when there was no king in Israel,
that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the farther side
of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to him a concubine
out of Bethlehem Judah.
019:002 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.
019:003 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.
019:004 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.
019:005 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.
019:006 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.
019:007 The man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged him,
and he lodged there again.
019:008 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.
019:009 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.
019:010 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.
019:011 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.
019:012 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.
019:013 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.
019:014 So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down
on them near to Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.
019:015 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.
019:016 Behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even:
now the man was of the hill country of Ephraim, and he sojourned
in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites.
019:017 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?
019:018 He said to him, We are passing from Bethlehem Judah to the farther
side of the hill country of Ephraim; from there am I, and I went
to Bethlehem Judah: and I am [now] going to the house of Yahweh;
and there is no man who takes me into his house.
019:019 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.
019:020 The old man said, Peace be to you; howsoever let all your wants
lie on me; only don't lodge in the street.
019:021 So he brought him into his house, and gave the donkeys fodder;
and they washed their feet, and ate and drink.
019:022 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.
019:023 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.
019:024 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.
019:025 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.
019:026 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.
019:027 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.
019:028 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.
019:029 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 Israel.
019:030 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.
020:001 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 Yahweh at Mizpah.
020:002 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.
020:003 (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel
had gone up to Mizpah.) The children of Israel said, Tell us,
how was this wickedness brought to pass?
020:004 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.
020:005 The men of Gibeah 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.
020:006 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.
020:007 Behold, you children of Israel, all of you, give here your
advice and counsel.
020:008 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.
020:009 But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah:
[we will go up] against it by lot;
020:010 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.
020:011 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city,
knit together as one man.
020:012 The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin,
saying, What wickedness is this that is happen among you?
020:013 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.
020:014 The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together
out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against
the children of Israel.
020:015 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.
020:016 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen
men left-handed; everyone could sling stones at a hair-breadth,
and not miss.
020:017 The men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred
thousand men who drew sword: all these were men of war.
020:018 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? Yahweh said,
Judah [shall go up] first.
020:019 The children of Israel rose up in the morning,
and encamped against Gibeah.
020:020 The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin;
and the men of Israel set the battle in array against
them at Gibeah.
020:021 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.
020:022 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.
020:023 The children of Israel went up and wept before Yahweh until even;
and they asked of Yahweh, saying, Shall I again draw near
to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?
Yahweh said, Go up against him.
020:024 The children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin
the second day.
020:025 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.
020:026 Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up,
and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there before Yahweh,
and fasted that day until even; and they offered burnt
offerings and peace offerings before Yahweh.
020:027 The children of Israel asked of Yahweh (for the ark of the covenant
of God was there in those days,
020:028 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?
Yahweh said, Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him
into your hand.
020:029 Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah.
020:030 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.
020:031 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.
020:032 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.
020:033 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.
020:034 There came over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out
of all Israel, and the battle was sore; but they didn't know
that evil was close on them.
020:035 Yahweh 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.
020:036 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.
020:037 The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; and the ambushers
drew themselves along, and struck all the city with the edge
of the sword.
020:038 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.
020:039 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.
020:040 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.
020:041 The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed;
for they saw that evil had come on them.
020:042 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 the midst of it.
020:043 They enclosed the Benjamites round about, [and] chased them,
[and] trod them down at [their] resting place, as far as over
against Gibeah toward the sunrise.
020:044 There fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these [were]
men of valor.
020:045 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.
020:046 So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five
thousand men who drew the sword; all these [were] men of valor.
020:047 But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to
the rock of Rimmon, and abode in the rock of Rimmon four months.
020:048 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.
021:001 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, There shall
not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin as wife.
021:002 The people came to Bethel, and sat there until evening before God,
and lifted up their voices, and wept sore.
021:003 They said, Yahweh, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel,
that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel?
021:004 It happened on the next day that the people rose early,
and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings
and peace offerings.
021:005 The children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes
of Israel who didn't come up in the assembly to Yahweh? For they
had made a great oath concerning him who didn't come up
to Yahweh to Mizpah, saying, He shall surely be put to death.
021:006 The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother,
and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.
021:007 How shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we
have sworn by Yahweh that we will not give them of our
daughters to wives?
021:008 They said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel who didn't
come up to Yahweh to Mizpah? Behold, there came none
to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.
021:009 For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none
of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there.
021:010 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.
021:011 This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy
every male, and every woman who has lain by man.
021:012 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.
021:013 The whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin
who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them.
021:014 Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women
whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead: