Judges 14-21

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Samson’s Marriage

14 Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman. ² Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”^{(A) 3} But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among your kin or among all our^[a] people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she pleases me.” ⁴ His father and mother did not know that this was from the Lord, for he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.^(B)

⁵ Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him. ⁶ The spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a kid. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.^{(C) 7} Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson.^{(D) 8} After a while he returned to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion and honey. ⁹ He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.

¹⁰ His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there, as the young men were accustomed to do. ¹¹ When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. ¹² Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.^{(E) 13} But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.” So they said to him, “Ask your riddle; let us hear it.” ¹⁴ He said to them,

But for three days they could not explain the riddle.

¹⁵ On the fourth^[b] day they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?”^{(F) 16} So Samson’s wife wept before him, saying, “You hate me; you do not really love me. You have asked a riddle of my people, but you have not explained it to me.” He said to her, “Look, I have not told my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?” ¹⁷ She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and because she nagged him, on the seventh day he told her. Then she explained the riddle to her people. ¹⁸ The men of the town said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,

And he said to them,

¹⁹ Then the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he went down to Ashkelon. He killed thirty men of the town, took their spoil, and gave the festal garments to those who had explained the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.^{(H) 20} And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.^(I)

Samson Defeats the Philistines

15 After a while, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, bringing along a kid. He said, “I want to go into my wife’s room.” But her father would not allow him to go in. ² Her father said, “I was sure that you had rejected her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister prettier than she? Why not take her instead?”^{(J) 3} Samson said to them, “This time, when I do mischief to the Philistines, I will be without blame.” ⁴ So Samson went and caught three hundred foxes and took some torches, and he turned the foxes^[c] tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. ⁵ When he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and burned up the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and^[d] olive groves. ⁶ Then the Philistines asked, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken Samson’s wife and given her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father.^{(K) 7} Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will not stop until I have taken revenge on you.” ⁸ He struck them down hip and thigh with a massive defeat, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

⁹ Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi.^{(L) 10} The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” ¹¹ Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and they said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then have you done to us?” He replied, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”^{(M) 12} They said to him, “We have come down to bind you, so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” Samson answered them, “Swear to me that you yourselves will not attack me.” ¹³ They said to him, “No, we will only bind you and give you into their hands; we will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

¹⁴ When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him, and the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.^{(N) 15} Then he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached down and took it, and with it he killed a thousand men.^{(O) 16} And Samson said,

¹⁷ When he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone, and that place was called Ramath-lehi.^[e]

¹⁸ By then he was very thirsty, and he called on the Lord, saying, “You have granted this great victory by the hand of your servant. Am I now to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”^{(P) 19} So God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came from it. When he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore it was named En-hakkore,^[f] which is at Lehi to this day.^{(Q) 20} And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.^(R)

Samson and Delilah

16 Once Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to her. ² The Gazites were told,^[g] “Samson has come here.” So they circled around and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night, thinking, “Let us wait^[h] until the light of the morning; then we will kill him.”^{(S) 3} But Samson lay only until midnight. Then at midnight he rose up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.

⁴ After this he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. ⁵ The lords of the Philistines came to her and said to her, “Coax him, and find out what makes his strength so great and how we may overpower him, so that we may bind him in order to subdue him, and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”^{(T) 6} So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes your strength so great and how you could be bound, so that one could subdue you.” ⁷ Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that are not dried out, then I shall become weak and be like anyone else.” ⁸ Then the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not dried out, and she bound him with them. ⁹ While men were lying in wait in an inner chamber, she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of fiber snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and told me lies; please tell me how you could be bound.”^{(U) 11} He said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like anyone else.” ¹² So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” (The men lying in wait were in an inner chamber.) But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

¹³ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies; tell me how you could be bound.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and make it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like anyone else.”^{(V) 14} So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web^[i] and made them tight with the pin. Then she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.

¹⁵ Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times now and have not told me what makes your strength so great.”^{(W) 16} Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day and pestered him, he was tired to death. ¹⁷ So he told her his whole secret and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak and be like anyone else.”^(X)

¹⁸ When Delilah realized that he had told her his whole secret, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “This time come up, for he has told his whole secret to me.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. ¹⁹ She let him fall asleep on her lap, and she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. He began to weaken,^[j] and his strength left him.^{(Y) 20} Then she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” When he awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.^{(Z) 21} So the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he ground at the mill in the prison. ²² But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Samson’s Death

²³ Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon and to rejoice, for they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.”^{(AA) 24} When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”^{(AB) 25} And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, and let him entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. They made him stand between the pillars,^{(AC) 26} and Samson said to the attendant who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, so that I may lean against them.” ²⁷ Now the house was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about three thousand men and women who looked on while Samson performed.^(AD)

²⁸ Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “Lord God, remember me and strengthen me only this once, O God, so that with this one act of revenge I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”^{[k](AE) 29} And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. ³⁰ Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He strained with all his might, and the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life. ³¹ Then his kindred and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years.^(AF)

Micah and the Levite

17 There was a man in the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. ² He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse and even spoke it in my hearing—that silver is in my possession; I took it, but now I will return it to you.”^[l] And his mother said, “May my son be blessed by the Lord!” ³ Then he returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I consecrate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make an idol of cast metal.”^{(AG) 4} So when he returned the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into an idol of cast metal, and it was in the house of Micah. ⁵ This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and teraphim and installed one of his sons, who became his priest.^{(AH) 6} In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.^(AI)

⁷ Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the clan of Judah. He was a Levite residing there.^{(AJ) 8} This man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to live wherever he could find a place. He came to the house of Micah in the hill country of Ephraim to carry on his work.^{[m] 9} Micah said to him, “From where do you come?” He replied, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to live wherever I can find a place.” ¹⁰ Then Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a set of clothes, and your living.”^{[n](AK) 11} The Levite agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. ¹² So Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and was in the house of Micah.^{(AL) 13} Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me because the Levite has become my priest.”

The Migration of Dan

18 In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking for itself a territory to live in, for until then no territory among the tribes of Israel had been allotted to them.^{(AM) 2} So the Danites sent five valiant men from the whole number of their clan, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it, and they said to them, “Go, explore the land.” When they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they stayed there.^{(AN) 3} While they were at Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite, so they went over and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” ⁴ He said to them, “Micah did such and such for me, and he hired me, and I have become his priest.”^{(AO) 5} Then they said to him, “Inquire of God that we may know whether the mission we are undertaking will succeed.”^{(AP) 6} The priest replied, “Go in peace. The mission you are on is under the eye of the Lord.”^(AQ)

⁷ The five men went on, and when they came to Laish, they observed the people who were there living securely, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking^[o] nothing on earth, and possessing wealth.^[p] Furthermore, they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with Aram.^{[q](AR) 8} When they came to their kinsfolk at Zorah and Eshtaol, they said to them, “What do you report?”^{(AS) 9} They said, “Come, let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Will you do nothing? Do not be slow to go, but enter in and possess the land.^{(AT) 10} When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people. The land is broad—God has indeed given it into your hands—a place where there is no lack of anything on earth.”^(AU)

¹¹ Six hundred men of the Danite clan, armed with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol ¹² and went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. On this account that place is called Mahaneh-dan^[r] to this day; it is west of Kiriath-jearim.^{(AV) 13} From there they passed on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.^(AW)

¹⁴ Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land (that is, Laish) said to their comrades, “Do you know that in these buildings there are an ephod, teraphim, and an idol of cast metal? Now, therefore, consider what you will do.”^{(AX) 15} So they turned in that direction and came to the house of the young Levite at the home of Micah and greeted him. ¹⁶ While the six hundred men of the Danites, armed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate,^{(AY) 17} the five men who had gone to spy out the land proceeded to enter and take the idol of cast metal, the ephod, and the teraphim.^[s] The priest was standing by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.^{(AZ) 18} When the men went into Micah’s house and took the idol of cast metal, the ephod, and the teraphim, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹ They said to him, “Keep quiet! Put your hand over your mouth, and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one person or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?”^{(BA) 20} Then the priest accepted the offer. He took the ephod, the teraphim, and the idol and went along with the people.

²¹ So they resumed their journey, putting the little ones, the livestock, and the goods in front of them. ²² When they were some distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they overtook the Danites. ²³ They shouted to the Danites, who turned around and said to Micah, “What is the matter that you come with such a company?” ²⁴ He replied, “You take my gods that I made and the priest and go away, and what have I left? How then can you ask me, ‘What is the matter?’ ”^{(BB) 25} And the Danites said to him, “You had better not let your voice be heard among us, or else hot-tempered fellows will attack you, and you will lose your life and the lives of your household.” ²⁶ Then the Danites went their way. When Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home.

The Danites Settle in Laish

²⁷ The Danites, having taken what Micah had made and the priest who belonged to him, came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, put them to the sword, and burned down the city.^{(BC) 28} There was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with Aram.^[t] It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. They rebuilt the city and lived in it.^{(BD) 29} They named the city Dan after their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel, but the name of the city was formerly Laish.^{(BE) 30} Then the Danites set up the idol for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom son of Moses^[u] and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the time the land went into captivity.^{(BF) 31} So they maintained as their own Micah’s idol that he had made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.^(BG)

The Levite’s Concubine

19 In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite residing in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.^{(BH) 2} But his concubine became angry with^[v] him, and she went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah and was there some four months. ³ Then her husband set out after her, to speak tenderly to her and bring her back. He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys. When he reached^[w] her father’s house, the young woman’s father saw him and came with joy to meet him.^{(BI) 4} His father-in-law, the young woman’s father, made him stay, and he remained with him three days; so they ate and drank, and he^[x] stayed there. ⁵ On the fourth day they got up early in the morning, and he prepared to go, but the young woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Fortify yourself with a bit of food, and after that you may go.”^{(BJ) 6} So the two men sat and ate and drank together, and the young woman’s father said to the man, “Why not spend the night and enjoy yourself?”^{(BK) 7} When the man got up to go, his father-in-law kept urging him until he spent the night there again. ⁸ On the fifth day he got up early in the morning to leave, and the young woman’s father said, “Fortify yourself and linger until the day declines.” So the two of them ate. ⁹ When the man with his concubine and his servant got up to leave, his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said to him, “Look, the day has worn on until it is almost evening. Spend the night. See, the day has drawn to a close. Spend the night here and enjoy yourself. Tomorrow you can get up early in the morning for your journey and go home.”

¹⁰ But the man would not spend the night; he got up and departed and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him a couple of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with him.^{(BL) 11} When they were near Jebus, the day was far spent, and the servant said to his master, “Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.”^{(BM) 12} But his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into a city of foreigners, who do not belong to the people of Israel, but we will continue on to Gibeah.”^{(BN) 13} Then he said to his servant, “Come, let us try to reach one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or at Ramah.” ¹⁴ So they passed on and went their way, and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. ¹⁵ They turned aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gibeah. He went in and sat down in the open square of the city, but no one took them in to spend the night.^(BO)

¹⁶ Then at evening there was an old man coming from his work in the field. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was residing in Gibeah. (The people of the place were Benjaminites.)^{(BP) 17} When the old man looked up and saw the wayfarer in the open square of the city, he said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?” ¹⁸ He answered him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to my home.^[y] Nobody has offered to take me in.^{(BQ) 19} We have straw and fodder for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me and the woman and the young man along with us. Your servants need nothing more.” ²⁰ The old man said, “Peace be to you. I will care for all your wants; only do not spend the night in the square.” ²¹ So he brought him into his house and fed the donkeys; they washed their feet and ate and drank.^(BR)

Gibeah’s Crime

²² While they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, a perverse lot, surrounded the house and started pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may have intercourse with him.”^{(BS) 23} And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Since this man is my guest, do not do this vile thing.^{(BT) 24} Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine; let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do whatever you want to them, but against this man do not do such a vile thing.”^{(BU) 25} But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and put her out to them. They wantonly raped her and abused her all through the night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. ²⁶ As morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was light.

²⁷ In the morning her master got up, opened the doors of the house, and when he went out to go on his way, there was the woman, his concubine, lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸ “Get up,” he said to her, “we are going.” But there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey, and the man set out for his home.^{(BV) 29} When he had entered his house, he took a knife, and grasping his concubine he cut her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel.^{(BW) 30} Then he commanded the men whom he sent, saying, “Thus shall you say to all the Israelites: Has such a thing ever happened^[z] since the day that the Israelites came up from the land of Egypt until this day? Consider it, take counsel, and speak out.”^(BX)

The Other Tribes Attack Benjamin

20 Then all the Israelites came out, from Dan to Beer-sheba, including the land of Gilead, and the congregation assembled in one body before the Lord at Mizpah.^{(BY) 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 foot soldiers bearing arms. ³ (Now the Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) And the Israelites said, “Tell us, how did this criminal act come about?” ⁴ The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered, “I came to Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night.^{(BZ) 5} The lords of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, and they raped my concubine until she died.^{(CA) 6} Then I took my concubine and cut her into pieces and sent her throughout the whole extent of Israel’s territory, for they have committed a vile outrage in Israel.^{(CB) 7} So now, you Israelites, all of you, give your advice and counsel here.”^(CC)

⁸ All the people got up as one, saying, “We will not any of us go to our tents, nor will any of us return to our houses. ⁹ But now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up^[aa] against it by lot. ¹⁰ We will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, to bring provisions for the troops who will go to repay^[ab] Gibeah of Benjamin for all the disgrace that they have done in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one.

¹² The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What crime is this that has been committed among you?^{(CD) 13} Now then, hand over those scoundrels in Gibeah so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not listen to their kinsfolk, the Israelites.^{(CE) 14} The Benjaminites came together out of the towns to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the Israelites. ¹⁵ On that day the Benjaminites mustered twenty-six thousand armed men from their towns, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who mustered seven hundred picked men. ¹⁶ Of all this force, there were seven hundred picked men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. ¹⁷ And the Israelites, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand armed men, all of them warriors.

¹⁸ The Israelites proceeded to go up to Bethel, where they inquired of God, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the Benjaminites?” And the Lord answered, “Judah shall go up first.”^(CF)

¹⁹ Then the Israelites got up in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. ²⁰ The Israelites went out to battle against Benjamin, and the Israelites drew up the battle line against them at Gibeah. ²¹ The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and struck down on that day twenty-two thousand of the Israelites.^{(CG) 23 [ac]}The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until the evening, and they inquired of the Lord, “Shall we again draw near to battle against our kinsfolk the Benjaminites?” And the Lord said, “Go up against them.”^{(CH) 22} The Israelites strengthened themselves and again formed the battle line in the same place where they had formed it on the first day.

²⁴ So the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites the second day. ²⁵ Benjamin moved out against them from Gibeah the second day and struck down eighteen thousand of the Israelites, all of them armed men.^{(CI) 26} Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went back to Bethel and wept, sitting there before the Lord; they fasted that day until evening. Then they offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being before the Lord.^{(CJ) 27} And the Israelites inquired of the Lord (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,^{(CK) 28} and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, ministered before it in those days), saying, “Shall we go out once more to battle against our kinsfolk the Benjaminites, or shall we desist?” The Lord answered, “Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand.”^(CL)

²⁹ So Israel stationed men in ambush around Gibeah.^{(CM) 30} Then the Israelites went up against the Benjaminites on the third day and set themselves in array against Gibeah as before. ³¹ When the Benjaminites went out against the army, they were drawn away from the city. As before, they began to inflict casualties on the troops along the main roads, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, as well as in the open country, killing about thirty men of Israel.^{(CN) 32} The Benjaminites thought, “They are being routed before us, as previously.” But the Israelites said, “Let us retreat and draw them away from the city toward the roads.” ³³ The main body of the Israelites drew back its battle line to Baal-tamar, while those Israelites who were in ambush rushed out of their place west^[ad] of Geba.^{(CO) 34} There came against Gibeah ten thousand picked men out of all Israel, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was close upon them.^(CP)

³⁵ The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and the Israelites struck down twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin that day, all of them armed.

³⁶ Then the Benjaminites saw that they were defeated.

The Israelites gave ground to Benjamin because they relied on the troops in ambush that they had stationed against Gibeah.^{(CQ) 37} The troops in ambush rushed quickly upon Gibeah. Then they put the whole city to the sword.^{(CR) 38} Now the agreement between the main body of Israel and the men in ambush was that when they sent up a cloud of smoke out of the city^{(CS) 39} the main body of Israel should turn in battle. But Benjamin had begun to inflict casualties on the Israelites, killing about thirty of them, so they thought, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.”^{(CT) 40} But when the cloud, a column of smoke, began to rise out of the city, the Benjaminites looked behind them—and there was the whole city going up in smoke toward the sky!^{(CU) 41} Then the main body of Israel turned, and the Benjaminites were dismayed, for they saw that disaster was close upon them. ⁴² Therefore they turned away from the Israelites in the direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the city^[ae] were striking them down in between.^{[af] 43} Surrounding the Benjaminites, they pursued them from Nohah^[ag] and trod them down as far as a place east of Gibeah. ⁴⁴ Eighteen thousand Benjaminites fell, all of them courageous fighters. ⁴⁵ When they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, five thousand of them were cut down on the main roads, and they were pursued as far as Gidom, and two thousand of them were slain.^{(CV) 46} So all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand arms-bearing men, all of them courageous fighters. ⁴⁷ But six hundred turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and remained at the rock of Rimmon for four months.^{(CW) 48} Meanwhile, the Israelites turned back against the Benjaminites and put them to the sword—the city, the people, the animals, and all that remained. Also the remaining towns they set on fire.

The Benjaminites Saved from Extinction

21 Now the Israelites had sworn at Mizpah, “No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.”^{(CX) 2} And the people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly.^{(CY) 3} They said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, why has it come to pass that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel?” ⁴ On the next day, the people got up early and built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being.^{(CZ) 5} Then the Israelites said, “Who out of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the Lord?” For a solemn oath had been taken concerning whoever did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah, saying, “That one shall be put to death.” ⁶ But the Israelites had compassion for Benjamin their kin and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel this day. ⁷ What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them any of our daughters as wives?”^(DA)

⁸ Then they said, “Is there anyone from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah?” It turned out that no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp, to the assembly. ⁹ For when the roll was called among the people, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there. ¹⁰ So the congregation sent twelve thousand soldiers there and commanded them, “Go, put the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead to the sword, including the women and the little ones. ¹¹ This is what you shall do; every male and every woman who has lain with a male you shall devote to destruction.”^{(DB) 12} And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man and brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

¹³ Then the whole congregation sent word to the Benjaminites who were at the rock of Rimmon and proclaimed peace to them.^{(DC) 14} Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead, but they did not suffice for them.

¹⁵ The people had compassion on Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.^{(DD) 16} So the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since there are no women left in Benjamin?” ¹⁷ And they said, “There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, in order that a tribe may not be blotted out from Israel. ¹⁸ Yet we cannot give any of our daughters to them as wives.” For the Israelites had sworn, “Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin.”^{(DE) 19} So they said, “Look, the yearly festival of the Lord is taking place at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem and south of Lebonah.”^{(DF) 20} And they instructed the Benjaminites, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards ²¹ and watch; when the young women of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and each of you carry off a wife for himself from the young women of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin.^{(DG) 22} Then if their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Be generous and allow us to have them, because we did not capture in battle a wife for each man. But neither did you incur guilt by giving your daughters to them.’ ”^{(DH) 23} The Benjaminites did so; they took wives for each of them from the dancers whom they abducted. Then they went and returned to their territory and rebuilt the towns and lived in them.^{(DI) 24} So the Israelites departed from there at that time by tribes and families, and they went out from there to their own territories.

²⁵ In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.^(DJ)