Bible in 90 Days

¹³ They spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will bind you securely and deliver you into their hands; but surely we will not kill you.” They bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.

¹⁴ When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. Then Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that was burned with fire; and his bands dropped from off his hands. ¹⁵ He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, put out his hand, took it, and struck a thousand men with it. ¹⁶ Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men.” ¹⁷ When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone out of his hand; and that place was called Ramath Lehi.^[a]

¹⁸ He was very thirsty, and called on Yahweh and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die of thirst, and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

¹⁹ But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out of it. When he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En Hakkore, which is in Lehi, to this day. ²⁰ He judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

16 Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a prostitute, and went in to her. ² The Gazites were told, “Samson is here!” They surrounded him and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, “Wait until morning light; then we will kill him.” ³ Samson lay until midnight, then arose at midnight and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city, with the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.

⁴ It came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵ The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

⁶ Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and what you might be bound to afflict you.”

⁷ Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”

⁸ Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green cords which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹ Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He broke the cords as a flax thread is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.

¹⁰ Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies. Now please tell me how you might be bound.”

¹¹ He said to her, “If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”

¹² So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, then said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” The ambush was waiting in the inner room. He broke them off his arms like a thread.

¹³ Delilah said to Samson, “Until now, you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound.”

He said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the fabric on the loom.”

¹⁴ She fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He awakened out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam and the fabric.

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

¹⁶ When she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, his soul was troubled to death. ¹⁷ He told her all his heart and said to her, “No razor has ever come on my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me and I will become weak, and be like any other man.”

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. ¹⁹ She made him sleep on her knees; and she called for a man and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. ²⁰ She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!”

He awoke out of his sleep, and said, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that Yahweh had departed from him. ²¹ The Philistines laid hold on him and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of bronze; and he ground at the mill in the prison. ²² However, the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaved.

²³ The lords of the Philistines gathered 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.” ²⁴ When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, “Our god has delivered our enemy and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us, into our hand.”

²⁵ When their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson, that he may entertain us.” They called for Samson out of the prison; and he performed before them. They set him between the pillars; ²⁶ and Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, “Allow me to feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean on them.” ²⁷ 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 performed. ²⁸ 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.” ²⁹ 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. ³⁰ 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 in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life.

³¹ 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.

17 There was a man of 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 also spoke it in my ears—behold, the silver is with me. I took it.”

His mother said, “May Yahweh bless my son!”

³ He restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, then his mother said, “I most certainly dedicate the silver to Yahweh from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a molten image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.”

⁴ When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, who made a carved image and a molten image out of it. It was in the house of Micah.

⁵ The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim,^[b] and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. ⁶ In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes. ⁷ There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he lived there. ⁸ The man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah, to live where he could find a place, and he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he traveled. ⁹ Micah said to him, “Where did you come from?”

He said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I am looking for a place to live.”

¹⁰ 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 per year, a suit of clothing, and your food.” So the Levite went in. ¹¹ The Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons. ¹² Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. ¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that Yahweh will do good to me, since I have a Levite as my priest.”

18 In those days there was no king in Israel. In those days the tribe of the Danites sought an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day, their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel. ² The children of Dan sent five men of their family from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land!”

They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. ³ When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; so they went over there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What do you do in this place? What do you have here?”

⁴ He said to them, “Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I have become his priest.”

⁵ They said to him, “Please ask counsel of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.”

⁶ The priest said to them, “Go in peace. Your way in which you go is before Yahweh.”

⁷ Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in safety, in the way of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no one 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 anyone else. ⁸ They came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol; and their brothers asked them, “What do you say?”

⁹ They said, “Arise, and let’s go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. Do you stand still? Don’t be slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land. ¹⁰ When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people, and the land is large; for God has given it into your hand, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”

¹¹ The family of the Danites set out from Zorah and Eshtaol with six hundred men armed with weapons of war. ¹² They went up and encamped in Kiriath Jearim in Judah. Therefore they call that place Mahaneh Dan to this day. Behold, it is behind Kiriath Jearim. ¹³ They passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

¹⁴ 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,^[c] and a carved image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you have to do.” ¹⁵ They went over there and came to the house of the young Levite man, even to the house of Micah, and asked him how he was doing. ¹⁶ The six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷ The five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the engraved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

¹⁸ When these went into Micah’s house, and took the engraved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

¹⁹ They said to him, “Hold your peace, put your hand on your mouth, and go with us. Be a father and a priest to us. 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?”

²⁰ The priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, the teraphim, and the engraved image, and went with the people. ²¹ So they turned and departed, and put the little ones, the livestock, and the goods before them. ²² When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan. ²³ As they called to the children of Dan, they turned their faces, and said to Micah, “What ails you, that you come with such a company?”

²⁴ He said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away! What more do I have? How can you ask me, ‘What ails you?’”

²⁵ 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.”

²⁶ 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. ²⁷ They took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword; then they burned the city with fire. ²⁸ There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone else; and it was in the valley that lies by Beth Rehob. They built the city and lived in it. ²⁹ 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 used to be Laish. ³⁰ The children of Dan set up for themselves the engraved image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. ³¹ So they set up for themselves Micah’s engraved image which he made, and it remained all the time that God’s house was in Shiloh.

19 In those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite living on the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim, who took for himself a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah. ² His concubine played the prostitute against him, and went away from him to her father’s house to Bethlehem Judah, and was there for four months. 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. She brought him into her father’s house; and when the father of the young lady saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. ⁴ His father-in-law, the young lady’s father, kept him there; and he stayed with him three days. So they ate and drank, and stayed there.

⁵ On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning, and he rose up to depart. 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.” ⁶ So they sat down, ate, and drank, both of them together. Then the young lady’s father said to the man, “Please be pleased to stay all night, and let your heart be merry.” ⁷ The man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged him, and he stayed there again. 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.

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 is ending. Stay here, that your heart may be merry; and tomorrow go on your way early, that you may go home.” ¹⁰ But the man wouldn’t stay that night, but he rose up and went near Jebus (also called Jerusalem). With him were a couple of saddled donkeys. His concubine also was with him.

¹¹ When they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, “Please come and let’s enter into this city of the Jebusites, and stay in it.”

¹² His master said to him, “We won’t enter into the city of a foreigner that is not of the children of Israel; but we will pass over to Gibeah.” ¹³ He said to his servant, “Come and let’s draw near to one of these places; and we will lodge in Gibeah, or in 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 went over there, to go in to stay in Gibeah. He went in, and sat down in the street of the city; for there was no one who took them into his house to stay.

¹⁶ Behold, an old man came from his work out of the field at evening. Now the man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites. 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?”

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 Yahweh’s house; and there is no one who has taken me into his house. ¹⁹ Yet there is both straw and feed for our donkeys; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your servant, and for the young man who is with your servants. There is no lack of anything.”

²⁰ The old man said, “Peace be to you! Just let me supply all your needs, but don’t sleep in the street.” ²¹ So he brought him into his house, and gave the donkeys fodder. Then they washed their feet, and ate and drank. ²² As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain wicked 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 can have sex with him!”

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. 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.”

²⁵ But the men wouldn’t listen to him; so the man grabbed his concubine, and brought her out to them; and they had sex with her, and abused her all night until the morning. When the day began to dawn, they let her go. ²⁶ Then the woman came 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. 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 had fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold.

²⁸ He said to her, “Get up, and let’s get going!” but no one answered. Then he took her up on the donkey; and the man rose up, and went to his place.

²⁹ When he had come into his house, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel. ³⁰ It was so, that all who saw it said, “Such a deed has not been done or 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 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. 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. 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?”

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 spend the night. ⁵ The men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house by night. They intended to kill me and they raped my concubine, and she is dead. 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. ⁷ Behold, you children of Israel, all of you, give here your advice and counsel.”

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. ⁹ But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot; 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 the men of Gibeah have done in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

¹² The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What wickedness is this that has happened among you? ¹³ Now therefore deliver up the men, the wicked 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. ¹⁴ The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel. ¹⁵ The children of Benjamin were counted on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, in addition to the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were counted seven hundred chosen men. ¹⁶ Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed. Every one of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. ¹⁷ The men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were counted four hundred thousand men who drew sword. All these were men of war.

¹⁸ The children of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God. They asked, “Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin?”

Yahweh said, “Judah first.”

¹⁹ The children of Israel rose up in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. 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. ²¹ The children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day destroyed twenty-two thousand of the Israelite men down to the ground. 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. ²³ The children of Israel went up and wept before Yahweh until evening; 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.”

²⁴ The children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. ²⁵ Benjamin went out 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.

²⁶ 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 evening; then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Yahweh. ²⁷ The children of Israel asked Yahweh (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 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?”

Yahweh said, “Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand.”

²⁹ Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah. 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. 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.

³² The children of Benjamin said, “They are struck down before us, as at the first.” But the children of Israel said, “Let’s flee, and draw them away from the city to the highways.”

³³ All the men of Israel rose up out of their place and set themselves in array at Baal Tamar. Then the ambushers of Israel broke out of their place, even out of Maareh Geba. ³⁴ Ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel came over against Gibeah, and the battle was severe; but they didn’t know that disaster was close to them. ³⁵ 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. ³⁶ So the children of Benjamin saw that they were struck, for the men of Israel yielded to Benjamin because they trusted the ambushers whom they had set against Gibeah. ³⁷ The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; then the ambushers spread out, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword. 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. 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.” 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 city went up in smoke to the sky. ⁴¹ The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that disaster had come on them. 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 the middle of it. ⁴³ They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and trod them down at their resting place, as far as near Gibeah toward the sunrise. ⁴⁴ Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor. ⁴⁵ They turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon. They gleaned five thousand men of them in the highways, and followed hard after them to Gidom, and struck two thousand men of them. 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. 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. ⁴⁸ The men of Israel turned again on the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword—including the entire city, the livestock, and all that they found. Moreover they set all the cities which they found on fire.

21 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, “None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” ² The people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept severely. ³ They said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be one tribe lacking in Israel today?”

⁴ On the next day, the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ⁵ 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.” ⁶ The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “There is one tribe cut off from Israel today. ⁷ How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by Yahweh that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?” ⁸ They said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel who didn’t come up to Yahweh to Mizpah?” Behold, no one came from Jabesh Gilead to the camp to the assembly. ⁹ For when the people were counted, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there. ¹⁰ The congregation sent twelve thousand of the most valiant men there, 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. ¹¹ This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has lain with a man.” 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.

¹³ The whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them. ¹⁴ Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead. There still weren’t enough for them. ¹⁵ The people grieved for Benjamin, because Yahweh had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. 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?” ¹⁷ They said, “There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel. 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.’” ¹⁹ They said, “Behold, there is a feast of Yahweh 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.” ²⁰ They commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, 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. 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.’”

²³ The children of Benjamin did so, and took wives for themselves 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. ²⁴ The children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they each went out from there to his own inheritance. ²⁵ In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.

1 In the days when the judges judged, there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to live in the country of Moab with his wife and his two sons. ² The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. They came into the country of Moab and lived there. ³ Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. ⁴ They took for themselves wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years. ⁵ Mahlon and Chilion both died, and the woman was bereaved of her two children and of her husband. ⁶ Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how Yahweh^[d] had visited his people in giving them bread. ⁷ She went out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her. They went on the way to return to the land of Judah. ⁸ Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May Yahweh deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. ⁹ May Yahweh grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.”

Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices, and wept. ¹⁰ They said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.”

¹¹ Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? ¹² Go back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, ‘I have hope,’ if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons, ¹³ would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me seriously for your sakes, for Yahweh’s hand has gone out against me.”

¹⁴ They lifted up their voices and wept again; then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth stayed with her. ¹⁵ She said, “Behold,^[e] your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law.”

¹⁶ Ruth said, “Don’t urge me to leave you, and to return from following you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God^[f] my God. ¹⁷ Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.”

¹⁸ When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

¹⁹ So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. When they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was excited about them, and they asked, “Is this Naomi?”

²⁰ She said to them, “Don’t call me Naomi.^[g] Call me Mara,^[h] for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. ²¹ I went out full, and Yahweh has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since Yahweh has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?” ²² So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

2 Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. ² Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I find favor.”

She said to her, “Go, my daughter.” ³ She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

⁴ Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, “May Yahweh be with you.”

They answered him, “May Yahweh bless you.”

⁵ Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, “Whose young lady is this?”

⁶ The servant who was set over the reapers answered, “It is the Moabite lady who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. ⁷ She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she rested a little in the house.”

⁸ Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go to glean in another field, and don’t go from here, but stay here close to my maidens. ⁹ Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Haven’t I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from that which the young men have drawn.”

¹⁰ Then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, since I am a foreigner?”

¹¹ Boaz answered her, “I have been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father, your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn’t know before. ¹² May Yahweh repay your work, and a full reward be given to you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

¹³ Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not as one of your servants.”

¹⁴ At meal time Boaz said to her, “Come here, and eat some bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.”

She sat beside the reapers, and they passed her parched grain. She ate, was satisfied, and left some of it. ¹⁵ When she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don’t reproach her. ¹⁶ Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it. Let her glean, and don’t rebuke her.”

¹⁷ So she gleaned in the field until evening; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah^[i] of barley. ¹⁸ She took it up, and went into the city. Then her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned; and she brought out and gave to her that which she had left after she had enough.

¹⁹ Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? Where have you worked? Blessed be he who noticed you.”

She told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” ²⁰ Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by Yahweh, who has not abandoned his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Naomi said to her, “The man is a close relative to us, one of our near kinsmen.”

²¹ Ruth the Moabitess said, “Yes, he said to me, ‘You shall stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’”

²² Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidens, and that they not meet you in any other field.” ²³ So she stayed close to the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law.

3 Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? ² Now isn’t Boaz our kinsman, with whose maidens you were? Behold, he will be winnowing barley tonight on the threshing floor. ³ Therefore wash yourself, anoint yourself, get dressed, and go down to the threshing floor; but don’t make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴ It shall be, when he lies down, that you shall note the place where he is lying. Then you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lay down. Then he will tell you what to do.”

⁵ She said to her, “All that you say, I will do.” ⁶ She went down to the threshing floor, and did everything that her mother-in-law told her. ⁷ When Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. She came softly, uncovered his feet, and laid down. ⁸ At midnight, the man was startled and turned himself; and behold, a woman lay at his feet. ⁹ He said, “Who are you?”

She answered, “I am Ruth your servant. Therefore spread the corner of your garment over your servant; for you are a near kinsman.”

¹⁰ He said, “You are blessed by Yahweh, my daughter. You have shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, because you didn’t follow young men, whether poor or rich. ¹¹ Now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do to you all that you say; for all the city of my people knows that you are a worthy woman. ¹² Now it is true that I am a near kinsman. However, there is a kinsman nearer than I. ¹³ Stay this night, and in the morning, if he will perform for you the part of a kinsman, good. Let him do the kinsman’s duty. But if he will not do the duty of a kinsman for you, then I will do the duty of a kinsman for you, as Yahweh lives. Lie down until the morning.”

¹⁴ She lay at his feet until the morning, then she rose up before one could discern another. For he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” ¹⁵ He said, “Bring the mantle that is on you, and hold it.” She held it; and he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her; then he went into the city.

¹⁶ When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did it go, my daughter?”

She told her all that the man had done for her. ¹⁷ She said, “He gave me these six measures of barley; for he said, ‘Don’t go empty to your mother-in-law.’”

¹⁸ Then she said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know what will happen; for the man will not rest until he has settled this today.”

4 Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by. Boaz said to him, “Come over here, friend, and sit down!” He came over, and sat down. ² Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here,” and they sat down. ³ He said to the near kinsman, “Naomi, who has come back out of the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s. ⁴ I thought I should tell you, saying, ‘Buy it before those who sit here, and before the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know. For there is no one to redeem it besides you; and I am after you.”

He said, “I will redeem it.”

⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.”

⁶ The near kinsman said, “I can’t redeem it for myself, lest I endanger my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption for yourself; for I can’t redeem it.”

⁷ Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man took off his sandal, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the way of formalizing transactions in Israel. ⁸ So the near kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” then he took off his sandal.

⁹ Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, “You are witnesses today, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. ¹⁰ Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”

¹¹ All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which both built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem. ¹² Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the offspring^[j] which Yahweh will give you by this young woman.”

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and Yahweh enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son. ¹⁴ The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left you today without a near kinsman. Let his name be famous in Israel. ¹⁵ He shall be to you a restorer of life and sustain you in your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” ¹⁶ Naomi took the child, laid him in her bosom, and became nurse to him. ¹⁷ The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, “A son is born to Naomi”. They named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹⁸ Now this is the history of the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron, ¹⁹ and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amminadab, ²⁰ and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmon, ²¹ and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed, ²² and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.

1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. ³ This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to Yahweh^[k] of Armies in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests to Yahweh, were there. ⁴ When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters; ⁵ but he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved Hannah, but Yahweh had shut up her womb. ⁶ Her rival provoked her severely, to irritate her, because Yahweh had shut up her womb. ⁷ So year by year, when she went up to Yahweh’s house, her rival provoked her. Therefore she wept, and didn’t eat. ⁸ Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why don’t you eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

⁹ So Hannah rose up after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of Yahweh’s temple. ¹⁰ She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Yahweh, weeping bitterly. ¹¹ She vowed a vow, and said, “Yahweh of Armies, if you will indeed look at the affliction of your servant and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a boy, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and no razor shall come on his head.”

¹² As she continued praying before Yahweh, Eli saw her mouth. ¹³ Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴ Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Get rid of your wine!”

¹⁵ Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not been drinking wine or strong drink, but I poured out my soul before Yahweh. ¹⁶ Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation.”

¹⁷ Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; and may the God^[l] of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him.”

¹⁸ She said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate; and her facial expression wasn’t sad any more.

¹⁹ They rose up in the morning early and worshiped Yahweh, then returned and came to their house to Ramah. Then Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and Yahweh remembered her.

²⁰ When the time had come, Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel,^[m] saying, “Because I have asked him of Yahweh.”

²¹ The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to Yahweh the yearly sacrifice and his vow. ²² But Hannah didn’t go up, for she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before Yahweh, and stay there forever.”

²³ Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems good to you. Wait until you have weaned him; only may Yahweh establish his word.”

So the woman waited and nursed her son until she weaned him. ²⁴ When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, and one ephah^[n] of meal, and a container of wine, and brought him to Yahweh’s house in Shiloh. The child was young. ²⁵ They killed the bull, and brought the child to Eli. ²⁶ She said, “Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to Yahweh. ²⁷ I prayed for this child, and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of him. ²⁸ Therefore I have also given him to Yahweh. As long as he lives he is given to Yahweh.” He worshiped Yahweh there.

2 Hannah prayed, and said:

¹¹ Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served Yahweh before Eli the priest.

¹² Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didn’t know Yahweh. ¹³ The custom of the priests with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the meat was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand; ¹⁴ and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. The priest took all that the fork brought up for himself. They did this to all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh. ¹⁵ Yes, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat to roast for the priest; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.”

¹⁶ If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take as much as your soul desires;” then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.” ¹⁷ The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the men despised Yahweh’s offering. ¹⁸ But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod. ¹⁹ Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, “May Yahweh give you offspring^[p] from this woman for the petition which was asked of Yahweh.” Then they went to their own home. ²¹ Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before Yahweh.

²² Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting. ²³ He said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. ²⁴ No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear! You make Yahweh’s people disobey. ²⁵ If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them.

²⁶ The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh and also with men.

²⁷ A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Did I reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house? ²⁸ Didn’t I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? Didn’t I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? ²⁹ Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’