Judges 18-19

New American Standard Bible

Danites Seek Territory

18 ^(A)In those days there was no king of Israel; and ^(B)in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day ^[a]an inheritance had not ^[b]been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel. ² So the sons of Dan sent from their family five men out of their whole number, ^[c]valiant men from ^(C)Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it; and they said to them, “Go, explore the land.” And they came to ^(D)the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and stayed overnight there. ³ When they were near the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite; and they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here?” ⁴ He said to them, “Micah has done this and that for me, and he has hired me and ^(E)I have become his priest.” ⁵ Then they said to him, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be successful.” ⁶ And the priest said to them, “Go in peace; your way in which you are going ^[d]has the Lord’s approval.”

⁷ So the five men departed and came to ^(F)Laish, and saw the people who were in it living in security, in the way of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting; for there was no ^[e]oppressive ruler humiliating them for anything in the land, and they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ⁸ When they came back to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers said to them, “What do you say?” ⁹ And they said, “Arise, and let’s go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And will you ^[f]sit still? Do not hesitate to go, to enter, to take possession of the land. ¹⁰ When you enter, you will come to an unsuspecting people with a spacious land; for God has handed it over to you, ^(G)a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”

¹¹ Then from the family of the Danites, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, six hundred men armed with weapons of war set out. ¹² They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore they called that place ^[g](H)Mahaneh-dan to this day; behold, it is ^[h]west of Kiriath-jearim. ¹³ And they passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.

Danites Take Micah’s Idols

¹⁴ Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish ^[i]said to their kinsmen, “Do you know that there are in these houses ^(I)an ephod and ^[j]household idols, and a carved image and a cast metal image? Now then, consider what you should do.” ¹⁵ So they turned aside there and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, to the house of Micah, and asked ^[k]him how he was doing. ¹⁶ Meanwhile, the six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the sons of Dan, were positioned at the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷ Now the five men who went to spy out the land went up and entered there; they took ^(J)the carved image, the ephod, the ^[l]household idols, and the cast metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war. ¹⁸ When these men entered Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, ^[m]household idols, and the cast metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹ And they said to him, “Be silent, ^(K)put your hand over your mouth, and go with us, and be to us ^(L)a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a 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 ^[n]household idols, and the carved image, and went among the people.

²¹ Then they turned and left, and put the children, the livestock, and the valuables in front of them. ²² When they had distanced themselves from Micah’s house, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house assembled by command and overtook the sons of Dan. ²³ Then they called out to the sons of Dan, who turned ^[o]around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you have assembled together?” ²⁴ And he said, “You have taken my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away; what more do I have? So how can you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’” ²⁵ Then the sons of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, or else ^[p]fierce men will attack you, and you will ^[q]lose your life and the lives of your household.” ²⁶ So the sons of Dan went on their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

²⁷ Then they took what Micah had made and the priest who had belonged to him, and came to ^(M)Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword; and they burned the city with fire. ²⁸ And there was no one to save them, because it was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone, and it was in the valley which is near ^(N)Beth-rehob. So they rebuilt the city and lived in it. ²⁹ And ^(O)they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father who was born to Israel; however, the name of the city was previously Laish. ³⁰ The sons of Dan set up for themselves ^(P)the carved image; and Jonathan, the son of ^(Q)Gershom, the son of ^[r]Manasseh, ^(R)he 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 carved image which he had made, all the time that the ^(S)house of God was in Shiloh.

A Levite’s Concubine Raped and Killed

19 Now it came about in those days, when ^(T)there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite ^[s]staying in the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, who took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah. ² But his concubine ^[t]found him repugnant, and she left him and went to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah, and remained there for a period of four months. ³ Then her husband set out and went after her to ^(U)speak ^[u]gently to her in order to bring her back, ^[v]taking with him his servant and a pair of donkeys. And she brought him into her father’s house, and when the girl’s father saw him, he was glad to meet him. ⁴ His father-in-law, the girl’s father, prevailed upon him, and he remained with him for three days. So they ate and drank and stayed there. ⁵ Now on the fourth day they got up early in the morning, and he ^[w]prepared to go; but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “^(V)Strengthen ^[x]yourself with a piece of bread, and afterward you may go.” ⁶ So both of them sat down and ate and drank together; and the girl’s father said to the man, “Please ^[y]be so kind as to spend the night, and ^(W)let your heart be cheerful.” ⁷ However, the man got up to go; but his father-in-law urged him, and he spent the night there again. ⁸ Now on the fifth day he got up to go early in the morning, but the girl’s father said, “Please strengthen ^[z]yourself, and wait until ^[aa]late afternoon”; so both of them ate. ⁹ When the man got up to go, along with his concubine and servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Behold now, the day has drawn ^[ab]to a close; please spend the night. Behold, the day is ^[ac]coming to an end; spend the night here so that your heart may be cheerful. Then tomorrow you may arise early for your journey and go ^[ad]home.”

¹⁰ But the man was unwilling to spend the night, so he got up and left, and came to a place opposite ^(X)Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). And with him was a pair of saddled donkeys; his concubine also was with him. ¹¹ When they were near Jebus, the day was almost gone; and ^(Y)the servant said to his master, “Please come, and let’s turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.” ¹² However, his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into a city of foreigners who are not of the sons of Israel; instead, we will go on as far as Gibeah.” ¹³ And he said to his servant, “Come, and let’s approach one of these places; and we will spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.” ¹⁴ So they passed along and went their way, and the sun set on them near Gibeah which belongs to Benjamin. ¹⁵ They turned aside there to enter and spend the night in Gibeah. When ^[ae]they entered, ^[af]they sat down in the public square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night.

¹⁶ Then behold, an old man was coming out of the field from his work at evening. Now the man was from ^(Z)the hill country of Ephraim, and he was ^[ag]staying in Gibeah, but the men of the place ^(AA)were Benjaminites. ¹⁷ And he raised his eyes and saw the traveler in the public square of the city; and the old man said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?” ¹⁸ And he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, for I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem in Judah. But I am now going to ^[ah]my house, and no one will take me into his house. ¹⁹ Yet there is both straw and feed for our donkeys, and also bread and wine for me, and ^[ai]your female slave, and ^(AB)the young man who is with your servants; there is no lack of anything.” ²⁰ Then the old man said, “^(AC)Peace to you. Only let me take care of all your needs; however, do not spend the night in the public square.” ^21 (AD)So he took him into his house and fed the donkeys, and they washed their feet and ate and drank.

²² While they were ^[aj]celebrating, behold, ^(AE)the men of the city, certain ^[ak](AF)worthless men, surrounded the house, pushing one another at the door; and they spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who entered your house that we may ^[al]have relations with him.” ²³ Then the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, please do not act so wickedly. Since this man has come into my house, ^(AG)do not commit this vile sin. ^24 (AH)Here is my virgin daughter and ^[am]the man’s concubine. Please let me bring them out, then rape them and do to them ^[an]whatever you wish. But do not commit this act of vile sin against this man.” ²⁵ But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and brought her outside to them; and they ^[ao]raped her and abused her all night until morning, then let her go at the approach of dawn. ^26 [ap]As the day began to dawn, the woman came and fell down at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was, until full daylight.

²⁷ When her master got up in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, then behold, his concubine was lying at the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸ And he said to her, “Get up and let’s go,” ^(AI)but there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey; and the man set out and went to his ^[aq]home. ²⁹ When he entered his house, he took a knife and seized his concubine, and ^(AJ)cut her in twelve pieces, limb by limb. Then he sent her throughout the territory of Israel. ³⁰ All who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day when the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it, ^[ar](AK)make a plan, and speak up!”