Sent to Felix

²³ And he called for two centurions, saying, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to go to ^(A)Caesarea at the third hour of the night; ²⁴ and provide mounts to set Paul on, and bring him safely to Felix the governor.” ²⁵ He wrote a letter in the following manner:

³¹ Then the soldiers, as they were commanded, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. ³² The next day they left the horsemen to go on with him, and returned to the barracks. ³³ When they came to ^(H)Caesarea and had delivered the ^(I)letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. ³⁴ And when the governor had read it, he asked what province he was from. And when he understood that he was from ^(J)Cilicia, ³⁵ he said, ^(K)“I will hear you when your accusers also have come.” And he commanded him to be kept in ^(L)Herod’s ^[b]Praetorium.

Accused of Sedition

24 Now after ^(M)five days ^(N)Ananias the high priest came down with the elders and a certain orator named Tertullus. These gave evidence to the governor against Paul.

² And when he was called upon, Tertullus began his accusation, saying: “Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace, and ^[c]prosperity is being brought to this nation by your foresight, ³ we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness. ⁴ Nevertheless, not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear, by your ^[d]courtesy, a few words from us. ^5 (O)For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. ^6 (P)He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, ^[e]and wanted ^(Q)to judge him according to our law. ^7 (R)But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took him out of our hands, ^8 (S)commanding his accusers to come to you. By examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him.” ⁹ And the Jews also ^[f]assented, maintaining that these things were so.

Israel’s War with the Benjamites

20 So ^(A)all the children of Israel came out, from ^(B)Dan to ^(C)Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the Lord ^(D)at Mizpah. ² And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers ^(E)who drew the sword. ³ (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.)

Then the children of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wicked deed happen?”

⁴ So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “My concubine and ^(F)I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night. ^5 (G)And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, ^(H)but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died. ⁶ So ^(I)I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they ^(J)committed lewdness and outrage in Israel. ⁷ Look! All of you are children of Israel; ^(K)give your advice and counsel here and now!”

⁸ So all the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house; ⁹ but now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up ^(L)against it by lot. ¹⁰ We will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to make provisions for the people, that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin, they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man.

^12 (M)Then the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has occurred among you? ¹³ Now therefore, deliver up the men, ^(N)the ^[a]perverted men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and ^(O)remove the evil from Israel!” But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. ¹⁴ Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to Gibeah, to go to battle against the children of Israel. ¹⁵ And from their cities at that time ^(P)the children of Benjamin numbered twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered seven hundred select men. ¹⁶ Among all this people were seven hundred select men who were ^(Q)left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss. ¹⁷ Now besides Benjamin, the men of Israel numbered four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of war.

¹⁸ Then the children of Israel arose and ^(R)went up to ^[b]the house of God to ^(S)inquire of God. They said, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?”

The Lord said, ^(T)“Judah first!”

¹⁹ So the children of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. ²⁰ And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel put themselves in battle array to fight against them at Gibeah. ²¹ Then ^(U)the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day cut down to the ground twenty-two thousand men of the Israelites. ²² And the people, that is, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves and again formed the battle line at the place where they had put themselves in array on the first day. ^23 (V)Then the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, “Shall I again draw near for battle against the children of my brother Benjamin?”

And the Lord said, “Go up against him.”

²⁴ So the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second day. ²⁵ And ^(W)Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah on the second day, and cut down to the ground eighteen thousand more of the children of Israel; all these drew the sword.

²⁶ Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, ^(X)went up and came to ^[c]the house of God and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. ²⁷ So the children of Israel inquired of the Lord (^(Y)the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, ^28 (Z)and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, ^(AA)stood before it in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?”

And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.”

²⁹ Then Israel ^(AB)set men in ambush all around Gibeah. ³⁰ And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in battle array against Gibeah as at the other times. ³¹ So the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city. They began to strike down and kill some of the people, as at the other times, in the highways ^(AC)(one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah) and in the field, about thirty men of Israel. ³² And the children of Benjamin said, “They are defeated before us, as at first.”

But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” ³³ So all the men of Israel rose from their place and put themselves in battle array at Baal Tamar. Then Israel’s men in ambush burst forth from their position in the plain of Geba. ³⁴ And ten thousand select men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. ^(AD)But ^[d]the Benjamites did not know that disaster was upon them. ³⁵ The Lord ^[e]defeated Benjamin before Israel. And the children of Israel destroyed that day twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites; all these drew the sword.

³⁶ So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. ^(AE)The men of Israel had given ground to the Benjamites, because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah. ^37 (AF)And the men in ambush quickly rushed upon Gibeah; the men in ambush spread out and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword. ³⁸ Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of ^(AG)smoke rise up from the city, ³⁹ whereupon the men of Israel would turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun ^[f]to strike and kill about thirty of the men of Israel. For they said, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.” ⁴⁰ But when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, the Benjamites ^(AH)looked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in smoke to heaven. ⁴¹ And when the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin panicked, for they saw that disaster had come upon them. ⁴² Therefore they ^[g]turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them, and whoever came out of the cities they destroyed in their midst. ⁴³ They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily trampled them down as far as the front of Gibeah toward the east. ⁴⁴ And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor. ⁴⁵ Then ^[h]they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of ^(AI)Rimmon; and they cut down five thousand of them on the highways. Then they pursued them relentlessly up to Gidom, and killed two thousand of them. ⁴⁶ So all who fell of Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all these were ^[i]men of valor.

^47 (AJ)But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months. ⁴⁸ And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin, and struck them down with the edge of the sword—from every city, men and beasts, all who were found. They also set fire to all the cities they came to.

The Glories of the Messiah and His Bride

To the Chief Musician. ^(A)Set to ^[a]“The Lilies.” A ^[b]Contemplation of the sons of Korah. A Song of Love.