Judges 15:13 - 1 Samuel 2:29

Common English Bible

¹³ “We won’t,” they said to him. “We’ll only take you prisoner so we can turn you over to them. We won’t kill you.” Then they tied him up with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.

¹⁴ When Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines met him and came out shouting. The Lord’s spirit rushed over him, the ropes on his arms became like burned-up linen, and the ties melted right off his hands. ¹⁵ He found a donkey’s fresh jawbone, picked it up, and used it to attack one thousand men. ¹⁶ Samson said,

¹⁷ When he finished speaking, he tossed away the jawbone. So that place became known as Ramath-lehi.^[a]

¹⁸ Now Samson was very thirsty, so he called out to the Lord, “You are the one who allowed this great victory to be accomplished by your servant’s hands. Am I now going to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” ¹⁹ So God split open the hollow rock in Lehi, and water flowed out of it. When Samson drank, his energy returned and he was recharged. Thus that place is still called by the name En-hakkore^[b] in Lehi today.

²⁰ Samson led Israel for twenty years during the time of the Philistines.

Samson and the prostitute

16 One day Samson traveled to Gaza. While there, he saw a prostitute and had sex with her. ² The word spread^[c] among the people of Gaza, “Samson has come here!” So they circled around and waited in ambush for him all night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night long, thinking, We’ll kill him at the first light in the morning. ³ But Samson slept only half the night. He got up in the middle of the night, grabbed the doors of the city gate and the two gateposts, and pulled them up with the bar still across them. He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the hill that is beside Hebron.

Samson and Delilah

⁴ Some time after this, in the Sorek Valley, Samson fell in love with a woman whose name was Delilah. ⁵ The rulers of the Philistines confronted her and said to her, “Seduce him and find out what gives him such great strength and what we can do to overpower him, so that we can tie him up and make him weak. Then we’ll each pay you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what gives you such great strength and how you can be tied up and made weak.”

⁷ Samson replied to her, “If someone ties me up with seven fresh bowstrings that aren’t dried out, I’ll become weak. I’ll be like any other person.” ⁸ So the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that weren’t dried out, and she tied him up with them.

⁹ While an ambush was waiting for her signal in an inner room, she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are on you!” And he snapped the bowstrings like a thread of fiber snaps when it touches a flame. So the secret of his strength remained unknown.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “You made a fool out of me and lied to me. Now please tell me how you can really be tied up!”

¹¹ He replied to her, “If someone ties me up with new ropes that haven’t been used for work, I’ll become weak. I’ll be like any other person.”

¹² So Delilah took new ropes and tied him up with them. Then she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are on you!” Once again, an ambush was waiting in an inner room. Yet he snapped them from his arms like thread.

¹³ And Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now, you’ve made a fool out of me and lied to me. Tell me how you can be tied up!”

He responded to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on a loom and pull it tight with a pin, then I’ll become weak. I’ll be like any other person.”^[d]

¹⁴ So she got him to fall asleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on a loom,^[e] and pulled it tight with a pin. Then she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are on you!” He woke up from his sleep and pulled loose the pin, the loom, and the fabric.

¹⁵ Delilah said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t trust me? Three times now you’ve made a fool out of me and not told me what gives you such great strength!” ¹⁶ She nagged him with her words day after day and begged him until he became worn out to the point of death.

¹⁷ So he told her his whole secret. He said to her, “No razor has ever touched my head, because I’ve been a nazirite for God from the time I was born. If my head is shaved, my strength will leave me, and I’ll become weak. I’ll be like every other person.”

¹⁸ When Delilah realized that he had told her his whole secret, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come one more time, for he has told me his whole secret.” The rulers of the Philistines came up to her and brought the silver with them.

¹⁹ She got him to fall asleep with his head on her lap. Then she called a man and had him shave off the seven braids of Samson’s hair. He began to weaken,^[f] and his strength left him. ²⁰ She called out, “Samson, the Philistines are on you!”

He woke up from his sleep and thought, I’ll escape just like the other times and shake myself free. But he didn’t realize that the Lord had left him. ²¹ So the Philistines captured him, put out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze chains, and he worked the grinding mill in the prison.

²² But the hair on his head began to grow again right after it had been shaved.

Samson’s death

²³ The rulers of the Philistines gathered together to make a great sacrifice to their god Dagon and to hold a celebration. They cheered, “Our god has handed us Samson our enemy!” ²⁴ When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, “Our god has handed us our enemy, the very one who devastated our land and killed so many of our people.” ²⁵ At the height of the celebration,^[g] they said, “Call for Samson so he can perform for us!” So they called Samson from the prison, and he performed in front of them. Then they had him stand between the pillars.

²⁶ Samson said to the young man who led him by the hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that hold up the temple, so I can lean on them.” ²⁷ Now the temple was filled with men and women. All the rulers of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand more men and women were on the roof watching as Samson performed. ²⁸ Then Samson called out to the Lord, “Lord God, please remember me! Make me strong just this once more, God, so I can have revenge on the Philistines, just one act of revenge for my two eyes.”^{[h] 29} Samson grabbed the two central pillars that held up the temple. He leaned against one with his right hand and the other with his left. ³⁰ And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He strained with all his might, and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people who were in it. So it turned out that he killed more people in his death than he did during his life.

³¹ His brothers and his father’s entire household traveled down, carried him back up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had led Israel for twenty years.

Micah’s sanctuary and the Levite priest

17 Once there was a man named Micah who lived in the Ephraim highlands. ² He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you led you to declare a curse and even to repeat it when I could hear. I have that silver. I’m the one who took it, and now I’ll give it back to you.”^[i]

His mother replied, “May the Lord bless you, my son!” ³ When he gave the eleven hundred pieces of silver back to his mother, she said, “I wholeheartedly devote this silver to the Lord, to be made into a sculpted image and a molded image for my son.” ⁴ So he gave the silver back to his mother, and she took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who used it for a sculpted image and a molded image. And they were placed in Micah’s house. ⁵ This man Micah had his own sanctuary.^[j] He made a priestly vest^[k] and divine images^[l] and appointed one of his sons to be his personal priest. ⁶ In those days there was no king in Israel; each person did what they thought to be right.

⁷ Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, from the area of the Judahite clan. He was a Levite residing there as an immigrant. ⁸ The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to settle as an immigrant wherever he could find a place. He came to Micah’s house in the Ephraim highlands while he was making his way.^[m]

⁹ “Where are you from?” Micah asked him.

He replied, “I’m a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I’m looking to settle as an immigrant anywhere I can find a place.”

¹⁰ So Micah said to him, “Stay with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I’ll give you ten pieces of silver a year, a set of clothes, and your basic needs.”^{[n] 11} The Levite agreed to stay with him; and the young man became like one of his own sons. ¹² Micah appointed the Levite so that the young man became his personal priest and lived in Micah’s sanctuary. ¹³ And Micah said to himself, Now I know that the Lord will give me good things, because a Levite has become my priest.

Dan’s search for a land

18 In those days there was no king in Israel. Also in those days the tribe of Dan was searching for a territory of their own to live in, since no permanent territory had been assigned to them among the tribes of Israel up to that point. ² The Danites sent five men from their whole clan, strong men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy on the land and explore it. They told them, “Go explore the land.” So they went into the Ephraim highland as far as Micah’s house, and they spent the night there. ³ When they were in the area of Micah’s house, they recognized the accent of the young Levite. They turned in there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in these parts? What is there for you here?”

⁴ “Micah has done a lot for me,” he replied to them. “He hired me to be his personal priest.”

⁵ They said to him, “Ask for an answer from God so we can know whether we’ll be successful on this trip we’ve taken.”

⁶ The priest replied to them, “Go in peace. The Lord is watching over you on this trip you’ve taken.”

⁷ So the five men journeyed on until they reached Laish. There they saw that its people were living without worry in the same way as the Sidonians, undisturbed and secure. Nobody held back anything in the land, so no one had to hoard.^[o] Yet they lived far away from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone else.^[p]

⁸ When the men came back to their relatives at Zorah and Eshtaol, they asked them, “What did you find?”

⁹ “Come on,” they replied, “let’s march up against them! Indeed, we’ve seen the land, and it’s very good. Right now you’re doing nothing! Don’t hold back from going and taking possession of the land. ¹⁰ When you arrive, you’ll come upon a secure people and a wide-open land, because God has given to you a place where nothing on earth is lacking.” ¹¹ At this, six hundred men from the Danite clan at Zorah and Eshtaol set out armed for battle. ¹² They marched up and made camp at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. This is why the place west of Kiriath-jearim is still known as Dan’s Camp today. ¹³ From there they crossed into the Ephraim highlands and came to Micah’s house.

Dan acquires a levitical priest

¹⁴ Then the five men who had gone to spy on the land around Laish reported to their relatives, “Did you know that there is a priestly vest, divine images, a sculpted image, and a molded image in these buildings? Now think about what you should do!” ¹⁵ So they turned in there and went to the young Levite’s house in Micah’s compound and greeted him. ¹⁶ While the six hundred Danites armed for battle stood at the entrance of the gate, ¹⁷ the five men who had gone to spy on the land moved up, went inside, and took the sculpted image, the priestly vest, the divine images, and the molded image. The priest was standing at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed for battle ¹⁸ when these five entered Micah’s sanctuary and took the sculpted image, the priestly vest, the divine images, and the molded image.

The priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

¹⁹ “Shut up!” they said to him. “Put your hand over your mouth! Come with us and be a father and a priest for us. Would you rather be a priest for one man’s household or a priest for a tribe and a clan in Israel?” ²⁰ The priest was convinced, so he took the priestly vest, the divine images, and the sculpted image and went along with the people.

²¹ They headed back on their way, but they put the children, the livestock, and the prized possessions in front of them. ²² After they had gone a good distance away from Micah’s house, the men who were in the houses around Micah’s home were summoned for battle and caught up to the Danites. ²³ They called out to the Danites, who turned around and said to Micah, “Why have you summoned men for battle?”

²⁴ Micah replied, “You’ve taken my gods that I made, and the priest, and have gone off! What do I have left? How can you ask me what is wrong?”

²⁵ But the Danites said to him, “Don’t raise your voice with us or else hotheaded men will attack you, and you and your household will lose your lives.” ²⁶ Then the Danites went on their way. When Micah realized that they were too strong for him, he turned around and went home.

The Danites take possession of Laish

²⁷ The Danites took along the things that Micah had made, as well as the priest who had been with him, and came to Laish, to a people who were undisturbed and secure. They killed the people and burned down the city. ²⁸ No one was there to rescue them because the city was far away from Sidon and had no dealings with anyone else.^[q] It was in the Beth-rehob Valley.

They rebuilt the city and settled in it. ²⁹ They renamed the city Dan, after their ancestor Dan who had been one of Israel’s sons; but in fact, the original name of the city was Laish. ³⁰ The Danites set up the sculpted image for themselves, and Jonathan son of Gershom and grandson of Moses,^[r] and his sons became priests for the Danite tribe until the land went into exile. ³¹ They kept for themselves the sculpted image that Micah had made throughout the whole time that God’s sanctuary was in Shiloh.

A Levite, a woman, and her father

19 In those days when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite living as an immigrant in the far corners of the Ephraim highlands. He married a secondary wife from Bethlehem in Judah. ² In an act of unfaithfulness toward him, his secondary wife left him and went back to her father’s household at Bethlehem in Judah. She stayed there four full months. ³ Then her husband set out after her to convince her to come back. He had his servant and a couple of donkeys with him. She took him into her father’s house, and when the young woman’s father saw him, he was happy to welcome him. ⁴ Since his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, insisted, he stayed with him three days, eating, drinking, and spending the night there.

⁵ On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning, and he got ready to set out. But the young woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Eat a little food to give you strength, and then you can go.” ⁶ So the two of them sat down and ate and drank together. The young woman’s father said to the man, “Why not spend the night and enjoy yourself?” ⁷ When the man got ready to set out, his father-in-law persuaded him, and he spent the night there again. ⁸ On the fifth day, he got up early in the morning to set out, and the young woman’s father said, “Have some food for strength.” So the two of them ate, sitting around until late in the day. ⁹ When the man got ready to set out with his secondary wife and servant, his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said, “Look, the day has turned to evening, so spend the night. Seriously, the day is over. Spend the night here and enjoy yourself. Then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey, and you can head home.”

¹⁰ But the man was unwilling to spend another night. He got up, set out, and went as far as the area of Jebus, that is, Jerusalem. He had a couple of saddled donkeys and his secondary wife with him. ¹¹ When they were near Jebus, the day was totally gone. The servant said to his master, “Come on, let’s turn into this Jebusite city and spend the night in it.”

¹² But his master replied to him, “We won’t turn into a city of foreigners who aren’t Israelites. We’ll travel on to Gibeah. ¹³ “Come on,” he said to his servant, “let’s reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of those places.” ¹⁴ So they traveled on, and the sun set when they were near Gibeah in Benjamin. ¹⁵ They turned in to enter there, so they could spend the night in Gibeah, and he went and sat down in the city square. But no one offered to take them home to spend the night.

Rape and murder at Gibeah

¹⁶ Then in the evening, an old man was coming home from his daily work in the fields. This man was from the Ephraim highlands and was an immigrant in Gibeah, the people of that place being Benjaminites. ¹⁷ He looked up and saw the traveler in the city square. “Where are you heading and where have you come from?” the old man asked.

¹⁸ “We’re traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the far corners of the Ephraim highlands,” he replied to the old man. “That’s where I’m from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I’m heading to my home.^[s] But no one has offered to take me in tonight. ¹⁹ We’ve got our own straw and feed for our donkeys, plus food and wine to provide for me, the woman, and my servant with us. We don’t need anything.”

²⁰ The old man answered, “You’re welcome to stay with me,^[t] but let me take care of all your needs. Just don’t spend the night in the square.” ²¹ And he took him into his house. He mixed feed for the donkeys, and they washed their feet, ate, and drank.

²² While they were relaxing, suddenly the men of the city, a perverse bunch, surrounded the house and started pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the owner of the house, “Send out the man who came to your house, so we can have sex with him!”

²³ The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, please don’t commit such an evil act, given that this man has come to my home as a guest. Don’t do this disgraceful thing! ²⁴ Here’s my daughter, the young woman, and his secondary wife. Let me send them out, and you can abuse them and do whatever you want to them. But don’t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!” ²⁵ But the men refused to listen to him.

So the Levite grabbed his secondary wife and sent her outside to them. They raped her and abused her all night long until morning. They finally let her go as dawn was breaking.

²⁶ At daybreak, the woman came and collapsed at the door of the man’s house where her husband was staying, where she lay until it was daylight. ²⁷ When her husband got up in the morning, he opened the doors of the house and went outside to set out on his journey. And there was his secondary wife, lying at the entrance of the house, with her hands clutching the doorframe. ²⁸ “Get up,” he said to her, “let’s go.” But there was no response. So he laid her across a donkey, and the man set out for home. ²⁹ When he got home, he picked up a knife, took his secondary wife, and chopped her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces. Then he sent them into all the areas of Israel. ³⁰ Everyone who saw it said, “Has such a thing ever happened or been seen since the time when the Israelites came up from the land of Egypt until today? Think about it, decide what to do, and speak out!”

Civil war between the Benjaminites and the Israelites

20 Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beer-sheba, as well as from the area of Gilead, marched out, and the group assembled as one body in the Lord’s presence at Mizpah. ² The commanders of the people and of all the tribes of Israel took their place in the assembly of God’s people, four hundred thousand foot soldiers armed with swords. ³ And the Benjaminites got word that the Israelites had marched up to Mizpah.

The Israelites inquired, “Tell us how this evil act happened.”

⁴ So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered, “My secondary wife and I came to Gibeah of Benjamin to spend the night, ⁵ and the leading citizens of Gibeah tried to attack me. They surrounded me in the house at night and were determined to kill me. They abused my secondary wife until she died. ⁶ I took her, chopped her up, and sent her pieces into every part of Israel’s territory, because they had committed a disgraceful act in Israel. ⁷ All you Israelites, say what you think should be done here and now!”

⁸ At this, all the people stood as one to say, “Not a single one of us is going home or returning to our house! ⁹ This is what we’re now going to do to Gibeah: We’ll march up^[u] against it as the lot determines. ¹⁰ From all the tribes of Israel, we’ll get ten men for every hundred, one hundred for every thousand, and one thousand for every ten thousand to take supplies for the troops who are going to pay back^[v] Gibeah of Benjamin for the disgraceful act they’ve done in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the Israelites joined together and were united as one against the city.

¹² The Israelite tribes sent men throughout the whole tribe of Benjamin with this message: “What about this evil act that happened among you? ¹³ Now hand over those perverse men in Gibeah so that we can execute them and remove the evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites refused to comply with the demand of their own relatives the Israelites. ¹⁴ Instead, the Benjaminites from all the cities came together at Gibeah to march out for battle against the Israelites. ¹⁵ On that day, the Benjaminites called up from their cities twenty-six thousand men armed with swords, not counting those living in Gibeah.^{[w] 16} Out of this entire army, seven hundred specially chosen men were left-handed, and every one of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. ¹⁷ Not counting Benjamin, the Israelites called up four hundred thousand men armed with swords, and every one of them was a trained warrior.

¹⁸ Then the Israelites marched up to Bethel to ask for direction from God. They inquired, “Who should go up first to fight against the Benjaminites for us?”

And the Lord said, “Let the tribe of Judah be first.”

¹⁹ So the next morning, the Israelites got up and camped near Gibeah. ²⁰ They marched out to fight against the Benjaminites, lining up in battle formation against them at Gibeah. ²¹ But the Benjaminites marched out from Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelite men that day.

^23 [x] So the Israelites went back up and wept before the Lord until evening. They asked the Lord, “Should we move in again to fight our relatives the Benjaminites?”

And the Lord replied, “March out against them.”

²² The Israelite troops regrouped and lined up in battle formation again in the same place they had lined up the first day. ²⁴ The Israelites moved in against the Benjaminites the second day. ²⁵ But the Benjaminites marched out of Gibeah to meet them on that second day and cut down another eighteen thousand Israelite men, all of whom were armed with swords.

²⁶ Then all the Israelite troops went back up to Bethel and wept, just sitting there in the Lord’s presence. They fasted that whole day until evening. Then they offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices to the Lord. ²⁷ Now in those days the chest containing God’s covenant was there, ²⁸ and Phinehas, Eleazar’s son and Aaron’s grandson, was in charge of ministering before it. The Israelites asked the Lord, “Should we march out once again to fight our relatives the Benjaminites or should we give up?”

And the Lord replied, “March up, for I’ll hand them to you tomorrow.”

²⁹ So the Israelites set ambushes around Gibeah. ³⁰ Three days later, the Israelites marched out against the Benjaminites. They lined up for battle against Gibeah as before. ³¹ When the Benjaminites came out to meet them, they were drawn away from the city. They began to strike down some of the troops just like the last time, about thirty Israelites along the main roads, one of which goes up to Bethel and one to Gibeah, as well as in the open fields. ³² The Benjaminites thought, They’re being wiped out before us like the first time. But the Israelites had planned, We’ll retreat and draw them away from the city toward the main roads. ³³ The Israelites moved from their position and reformed their battle lines at Baal-tamar. Then the Israelites who had been set in ambush charged out from their positions west of Gibeah.^{[y] 34} Ten thousand specially chosen men from all the Israelites came against Gibeah. The fighting was fierce, and the Benjaminites didn’t realize that disaster was almost on them. ³⁵ The Lord wiped out the Benjaminites before Israel. The Israelites slaughtered twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjaminite men that day, all of them armed with swords. ³⁶ Then the Benjaminites saw that they had been defeated.

The Israelites had given ground to the Benjaminites because they relied on the ambush that they had set around Gibeah. ³⁷ Indeed, those in the ambush had dashed swiftly into Gibeah and killed all the people in the city with their swords. ³⁸ The plan between the main force of the Israelites and those in the ambush was that when they sent up a big cloud of smoke from the city, ³⁹ the Israelites would turn around in battle. The Benjaminites had begun to defeat some of the Israelites and had killed about thirty men, thinking, They are definitely going to be wiped out before us, as in the first battle! ⁴⁰ But then the column of smoke began to rise from the city. When the Benjaminites looked back, there was the entire city going up in smoke to the sky. ⁴¹ The main force of the Israelites turned around, and the Benjaminites lost heart, because they recognized that disaster had fallen on them. ⁴² They turned back before the Israelites in the direction of the desert, but the fighting caught up with them, and those from the towns were slaughtering them there.^{[z] 43} They encircled the Benjaminites, chased them from Nohah,^[aa] and trampled them to the east of Gibeah. ⁴⁴ Eighteen thousand Benjaminites fell, all of whom were strong warriors. ⁴⁵ When they turned back and fled toward the desert to the rock of Rimmon, the Israelites picked off another five thousand men on the main roads. And when they caught up with them at Gidom, they struck down two thousand more.

⁴⁶ All in all, the total number of Benjaminites who fell that day was twenty-five thousand men, all of whom were armed with swords and were strong warriors. ⁴⁷ Six hundred men turned back and fled toward the desert to the rock of Rimmon. They stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months. ⁴⁸ But the Israelites turned their attention to the rest of the Benjaminites and massacred them entirely—the city, the people, even the animals, and everything else they found. They also burned down every city they came across.

Wives for the Benjaminites

21 The Israelites had made a pledge at Mizpah, declaring, “None of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite.” ² But the people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before God, raising their voices and crying bitterly. ³ “Lord, God of Israel,” they said, “why has this happened among us that as of today one tribe will be missing from Israel?” ⁴ And the next day, the people got up early and built an altar there. They offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices.

⁵ Then the Israelites asked, “Were there any out of all the tribes of Israel who didn’t march up to the assembly before the Lord?” Indeed, they had made a solemn pledge that anyone who didn’t march up before the Lord at Mizpah would be put to death. ⁶ The Israelites had a change of heart concerning their relatives the Benjaminites. They said, “Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel. ⁷ What can we do to provide wives for the ones who are left, since we ourselves have made a pledge before the Lord not to allow our daughters to marry them?” ⁸ So they asked, “Is there anyone from the tribes of Israel who didn’t march up before the Lord at Mizpah?” There was! No one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the assembly at the camp. ⁹ When the people’s attendance was taken, not one of those who lived in Jabesh-gilead had been there.

¹⁰ The community dispatched twelve thousand warriors there with these orders: “Go kill all the people in Jabesh-gilead, including women and children. ¹¹ Here’s what you should do: Exterminate every man and every woman who has slept with a man.” ¹² Among the people of Jabesh-gilead, they found four hundred young women who had not known a man intimately or slept with one, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan. ¹³ The whole community then sent word to the Benjaminites who were at the rock of Rimmon and offered them a truce.^{[ab] 14} So the Benjaminites returned at that time, and they gave them the women from Jabesh-gilead that they had allowed to live. Even so, there weren’t enough for them.

¹⁵ Since the people had a change of heart concerning the Benjaminites because the Lord had caused a rupture in the tribes of Israel, ¹⁶ the community elders said, “What can we do to provide wives for the ones who are left, seeing that the Benjaminite women have been destroyed? ¹⁷ There must be a surviving line for those who remain from Benjamin,” they continued, “so that a tribe won’t be erased from Israel. ¹⁸ But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, for we Israelites have made this pledge: ‘Let anyone who provides a wife for Benjamin be cursed!’ ¹⁹ However,” they said, “the annual festival of the Lord is under way in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” ²⁰ So they instructed the Benjaminites, “Go and hide like an ambush in the vineyards ²¹ and watch. At the moment the women of Shiloh come out to participate in the dances, rush out from the vineyards. Each one of you, capture a wife for yourself from the women of Shiloh and go back to the land of Benjamin. ²² When their fathers or brothers come to us to object, we’ll tell them, ‘Do us a favor for their sake. We didn’t capture enough women for every man during the battle, and this way you are not guilty because you didn’t give them anything willingly.’” ²³ And that is what the Benjaminites did. They took wives for their whole group from the dancers whom they abducted. They returned to their territory, rebuilt the cities, and lived in them. ²⁴ Likewise, the Israelites set out from there at that time, heading home to their respective tribes and clans. They all left there for their own territories.

²⁵ In those days there was no king in Israel; each person did what they thought to be right.

The family in Moab

1 During the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. A man with his wife and two sons went from Bethlehem of Judah to dwell in the territory of Moab. ² The name of that man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the territory of Moab and settled there.

³ But Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died. Then only she was left, along with her two sons. ⁴ They took wives for themselves, Moabite women; the name of the first was Orpah and the name of the second was Ruth. And they lived there for about ten years.

⁵ But both of the sons, Mahlon and Chilion, also died. Only the woman was left, without her two children and without her husband.

⁶ Then she arose along with her daughters-in-law to return from the field of Moab, because while in the territory of Moab she had heard that the Lord had paid attention to his people by providing food for them. ⁷ She left the place where she had been, and her two daughters-in-law went with her. They went along the road to return to the land of Judah.

⁸ Naomi said to her daughters-in-law, “Go, turn back, each of you to the household of your mother. May the Lord deal faithfully with you, just as you have done with the dead and with me. ⁹ May the Lord provide for you so that you may find security, each woman in the household of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.

¹⁰ But they replied to her, “No, instead we will return with you, to your people.”

¹¹ Naomi replied, “Turn back, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Will there again be sons in my womb, that they would be husbands for you? ¹² Turn back, my daughters. Go. I am too old for a husband. If I were to say that I have hope, even if I had a husband tonight, and even more, if I were to bear sons— ¹³ would you wait until they grew up? Would you refrain from having a husband? No, my daughters. This is more bitter for me than for you, since the Lord’s will has come out against me.”

¹⁴ Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth stayed with her. ¹⁵ Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law is returning to her people and to her gods. Turn back after your sister-in-law.”

¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to abandon you, to turn back from following after you. Wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. ¹⁷ Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do this to me and more so if even death separates me from you.” ¹⁸ When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her about it.

¹⁹ So both of them went along until they arrived at Bethlehem. When they arrived at Bethlehem, the whole town was excited on account of them, and the women of the town asked, “Can this be Naomi?”

²⁰ She replied to them, “Don’t call me Naomi,^[ac] but call me Mara,^[ad] for the Almighty^[ae] has made me very bitter. ²¹ I went away full, but the Lord has returned me empty. Why would you call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has deemed me guilty?”

²² Thus Naomi returned. And Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, returned with her from the territory of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Gleaning in Bethlehem

2 Now Naomi had a respected relative, a man of worth, through her husband from the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz. ² Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field so that I may glean among the ears of grain behind someone in whose eyes I might find favor.”

Naomi replied to her, “Go, my daughter.” ³ So she went; she arrived and she gleaned in the field behind the harvesters. By chance, it happened to be the portion of the field that belonged to Boaz, who was from the family of Elimelech.

⁴ Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem. He said to the harvesters, “May the Lord be with you.”

And they said to him, “May the Lord bless you.”

⁵ Boaz said to his young man, the one who was overseeing the harvesters, “To whom does this young woman belong?”

⁶ The young man who was overseeing the harvesters answered, “She’s a young Moabite woman, the one who returned with Naomi from the territory of Moab. ⁷ She said, ‘Please let me glean so that I might gather up grain from among the bundles behind the harvesters.’ She arrived and has been on her feet from the morning until now, and has sat down for only a moment.”^[af]

⁸ Boaz said to Ruth, “Haven’t you understood, my daughter? Don’t go glean in another field; don’t go anywhere else. Instead, stay here with my young women. ⁹ Keep your eyes on the field that they are harvesting and go along after them. I’ve ordered the young men not to assault you. Whenever you are thirsty, go to the jugs and drink from what the young men have filled.”

¹⁰ Then she bowed down, face to the ground, and replied to him, “How is it that I’ve found favor in your eyes, that you notice me? I’m an immigrant.” ¹¹ Boaz responded to her, “Everything that you did for your mother-in-law after your husband’s death has been reported fully to me: how you left behind your father, your mother, and the land of your birth, and came to a people you hadn’t known beforehand. ¹² May the Lord reward you^[ag] for your deed. May you receive a rich reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you’ve come to seek refuge.” ¹³ She said, “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, sir, because you’ve comforted me and because you’ve spoken kindly to your female servant—even though I’m not one of your female servants.”

¹⁴ At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here, eat some of the bread, and dip your piece in the vinegar.” She sat alongside the harvesters, and he served roasted grain to her. She ate, was satisfied, and had leftovers. ¹⁵ Then she got up to glean.

Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her glean between the bundles, and don’t humiliate her. ¹⁶ Also, pull out some from the bales for her and leave them behind for her to glean. And don’t scold her.”

¹⁷ So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed what she had gleaned; it was about an ephah^[ah] of barley. ¹⁸ She picked it up and went into town. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She brought out what she had left over after eating her fill and gave it to her. ¹⁹ Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? May the one who noticed you be blessed.”

She told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

²⁰ Naomi replied to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, who hasn’t abandoned his faithfulness with the living or with the dead.” Naomi said to her, “The man is one of our close relatives; he’s one of our redeemers.”

²¹ Ruth the Moabite replied, “Furthermore, he said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they’ve finished all of my harvest.’”

²² Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It’s good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that men don’t assault you in another field.”

²³ Thus she stayed with Boaz’s young women, gleaning until the completion of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Encounter at the threshing floor

3 Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shouldn’t I seek security for you, so that things might go well for you? ² Now isn’t Boaz, whose young women you were with, our relative? Tonight he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor. ³ You should bathe, put on some perfume, wear nice clothes, and then go down to the threshing floor. Don’t make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴ When he lies down, notice the place where he is lying. Then go, uncover his feet, and lie down. And he will tell you what to do.”

⁵ Ruth replied to her, “I’ll do everything you are telling me.”

⁶ So she went down to the threshing floor, and she did everything just as her mother-in-law had ordered.

⁷ Boaz ate and drank, and he was in a good mood. He went over to lie down by the edge of the grain pile. Then she quietly approached, uncovered his legs, and lay down. ⁸ During the middle of the night, the man shuddered and turned over—and there was a woman lying at his feet. ⁹ “Who are you?” he asked.

She replied, “I’m Ruth your servant. Spread out your robe^[ai] over your servant, because you are a redeemer.”

¹⁰ He said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter! You have acted even more faithfully than you did at first. You haven’t gone after rich or poor young men. ¹¹ And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I’ll do for you everything you are asking. Indeed, my people—all who are at the gate—know that you are a woman of worth. ¹² Now, although it’s certainly true that I’m a redeemer, there’s a redeemer who is a closer relative than I am. ¹³ Stay the night. And in the morning, if he’ll redeem you—good, let him redeem. But if he doesn’t want to redeem you, then—as the Lord lives—I myself will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.”

¹⁴ So she lay at his feet until morning. Then she got up before one person could recognize another, for he had said, “No one should know that the woman came to the threshing floor.” ¹⁵ He said, “Bring the cloak that you have on and hold it out.” She held it out, and he measured out six measures of barley and placed it upon her. Then she^[aj] went into town.

¹⁶ She came to her mother-in-law, who said, “How are you, my daughter?”

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

¹⁸ “Sit tight, my daughter,” Naomi replied, “until you know how it turns out. The man won’t rest until he resolves the matter today.”

A new family brings fulfillment

4 Meanwhile, Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. Just then, the redeemer about whom Boaz had spoken was passing by. He said, “Sir, come over here and sit down.” So he turned aside and sat down. ² Then he took ten men from the town’s elders and said, “Sit down here.” And they sat down.

³ Boaz said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has returned from the field of Moab, is selling the portion of the field that belonged to our brother Elimelech. ⁴ I thought that I should let you know and say, ‘Buy it, in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you^[ak] won’t redeem it, tell me so that I may know. There isn’t anyone to redeem it except you, and I’m next in line after you.”

He replied, “I will redeem it.”

⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day when you buy the field from Naomi, you also buy^[al] Ruth the Moabite, the wife of the dead man, in order to preserve the dead man’s name for his inheritance.”

⁶ But the redeemer replied, “Then I can’t redeem it for myself, without risking damage to my own inheritance. Redeem it for yourself. You can have my right of redemption, because I’m unable to act as redeemer.”

⁷ In Israel, in former times, this was the practice regarding redemption and exchange to confirm any such matter: a man would take off his sandal and give it to the other person. This was the process of making a transaction binding in Israel. ⁸ Then the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” and he took off his sandal.

⁹ Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I’ve bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰ And also Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, I’ve bought to be my wife, to preserve the dead man’s name for his inheritance so that the name of the dead man might not be cut off from his brothers or from the gate of his hometown—today you are witnesses.”

¹¹ Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord grant that the woman who is coming into your household be like Rachel and like Leah, both of whom built up the house of Israel. May you be fertile in Ephrathah and may you preserve a name in Bethlehem. ¹² And may your household be like the household of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah—through the children that the Lord will give you from this young woman.”

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife.

He was intimate with her, the Lord let her become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. ¹⁴ The women said to Naomi, “May the Lord be blessed, who today hasn’t left you without a redeemer. May his name be proclaimed in Israel. ¹⁵ He will restore your life and sustain you in your old age. Your daughter-in-law who loves you has given birth to him. She’s better for you than seven sons.” ¹⁶ Naomi took the child and held him to her breast, and she became his guardian. ¹⁷ The neighborhood women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They called his name Obed.^[am] He became Jesse’s father and David’s grandfather.

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

Samuel’s birth

1 Now there was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite^[an] from the highlands of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah. He was from the tribe of Ephraim, and he was the son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph. ² Elkanah had two wives, one named Hannah and the other named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah didn’t.

³ Every year this man would leave his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of heavenly forces in Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons Hophni and Phinehas were the Lord’s priests. ⁴ Whenever he sacrificed, Elkanah would give parts of the sacrifice to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. ⁵ But he would give only one part of it to Hannah, though he loved her, because the Lord had kept her from conceiving.^{[ao] 6} And because the Lord had kept Hannah from conceiving, her rival would make fun of her mercilessly, just to bother her. ⁷ So that is what took place year after year. Whenever Hannah went to the Lord’s house, Peninnah would make fun of her. Then she would cry and wouldn’t eat anything.

⁸ “Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah would say to her. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you^[ap] so sad? Aren’t I worth more to you than ten sons?”

⁹ One time, after eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah got up and presented herself before the Lord.^[aq] (Now Eli the priest was sitting in the chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple.) ¹⁰ Hannah was very upset and couldn’t stop crying as she prayed to the Lord. ¹¹ Then she made this promise: “Lord of heavenly forces, just look at your servant’s pain and remember me! Don’t forget your servant! Give her a boy! Then I’ll give him to the Lord for his entire life. No razor will ever touch his head.”

¹² As she kept praying before the Lord, Eli watched her mouth. ¹³ Now Hannah was praying in her heart; her lips were moving, but her voice was silent, so Eli thought she was drunk.

¹⁴ “How long will you act like a drunk? Sober up!” Eli told her.

¹⁵ “No sir!” Hannah replied. “I’m just a very sad woman. I haven’t had any wine or beer but have been pouring out my heart to the Lord. ¹⁶ Don’t think your servant is some good-for-nothing woman. This whole time I’ve been praying out of my great worry and trouble!”

¹⁷ Eli responded, “Then go in peace. And may the God of Israel give you what you’ve asked from him.”

¹⁸ “Please think well of me, your servant,” Hannah said. Then the woman went on her way, ate some food, and wasn’t sad any longer.^[ar]

¹⁹ They got up early the next morning and worshipped the Lord. Then they went back home to Ramah. Elkanah had sex with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰ So in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, which means “I asked the Lord for him.”^[as]

Samuel’s dedication

²¹ When Elkanah and all his household went up to make the annual sacrifice and keep his solemn promise, ²² Hannah didn’t go.

“I’ll bring the boy when he is weaned,” she told her husband, “so he can be presented to the Lord and stay there permanently. I will offer him as a nazirite forever.”^[at]

²³ “Do what seems best to you,” said her husband Elkanah. “Stay here until you’ve weaned him. But may the Lord bring to pass what you’ve^[au] promised.” So the woman stayed home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

²⁴ When he had been weaned and was still very young,^[av] Hannah took him, along with a three-year-old bull,^[aw] an ephah^[ax] of flour, and a jar of wine, and brought him to the Lord’s house at Shiloh. ²⁵ They slaughtered the bull, then brought the boy to Eli.

²⁶ “Excuse me, sir!” Hannah said. “As surely as you live, sir, I am the woman who stood here next to you, praying to the Lord. ²⁷ I prayed for this boy, and the Lord gave me what I asked from him. ²⁸ So now I give this boy back to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.”

Then they worshipped there before the Lord.^[ay]

Hannah’s song

2 Then Hannah prayed:

¹¹ Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy served the Lord under Eli the priest.

Corruption of Eli’s sons

¹² Now Eli’s sons were despicable men who didn’t know the Lord. ¹³ This was how the priest was supposed to act with the people: Whenever anyone made a sacrifice, while the meat was boiling, the priest’s assistant would come with a three-pronged fork in hand. ¹⁴ He would thrust it into the cauldron or the pot.^[bb] Whatever the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. This is how it was done for all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.

¹⁵ But with Eli’s sons,^[bc] even before the fat was burned, the priest’s assistant would come and say to the person offering the sacrifice, “Give the priest some meat to roast. He won’t accept boiled meat from you.”^{[bd] 16} If anyone said, “Let the fat be burned off first, as usual, then take whatever you like for yourself,” the assistant would reply, “No, hand it over now. If not, I’ll take it by force.” ¹⁷ The sin of these priestly assistants was very serious in the Lord’s sight because they were disrespecting the Lord’s own offering.

¹⁸ Now Samuel was serving the Lord. He was a young boy, clothed in a linen priestly vest.^{[be] 19} His mother would make a small robe for him and take it to him every year when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. ²⁰ Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife: “May the Lord replace^[bf] the child of this woman that you gave back to the Lord.” Then they would return home. ²¹ The Lord paid attention to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the Lord’s service.

²² Eli was very old, but he heard everything his sons were doing to the Israelites, and how they had sex with the women who served at the meeting tent’s entrance. ²³ Eli said to his sons, “Why are you doing these terrible things that I’m hearing about from everybody? ²⁴ No, my sons. Don’t do this.^[bg] The report I hear spreading among God’s people isn’t good. ²⁵ If someone sins against someone else, God can intercede; but if someone sins against the Lord, who will intercede then?” But they wouldn’t obey their father because the Lord wanted to kill them. ²⁶ Meanwhile, the boy Samuel kept growing up and was more and more liked by both the Lord and the people.

²⁷ Now a man of God came to Eli and said, “This is what the Lord says: I revealed myself very clearly to your father’s household when they were slaves^[bh] in Egypt to the house of Pharaoh. ²⁸ I chose your father from all of Israel’s tribes to be my priest, to go up onto my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the priestly vest^[bi] in my presence. I also gave all of the Israelites’ food offerings to your father’s household. ²⁹ Why then do you kick my sacrifices and my offerings—the very ones I commanded for my dwelling place? Why do you respect your sons more than me, getting fat off the best parts of every offering from my people Israel?