Judges 10-21

Christian Standard Bible

Tola and Jair

10 After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah, son of Dodo became judge and began to deliver Israel. He was from Issachar and lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. ² Tola judged Israel twenty-three years and when he died, was buried in Shamir.

³ After him came Jair the Gileadite,^(A) who judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴ He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. They had thirty towns^[a] in Gilead, which are still called Jair’s Villages^[b] today. ⁵ When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.

Israel’s Rebellion and Repentance

⁶ Then the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.^(B) They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines.^(C) They abandoned the Lord and did not worship him.^{(D) 7} So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them to the Philistines and the Ammonites.^{(E) 8} They shattered and crushed the Israelites that year, and for eighteen years they did the same to all the Israelites who were on the other side of the Jordan^(F) in the land of the Amorites^(G) in Gilead. ⁹ The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim. Israel was greatly oppressed, ¹⁰ so they cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you.^(H) We have abandoned our God and worshiped the Baals.”

¹¹ The Lord said to the Israelites, “When the Egyptians,^(I) Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines, ¹² Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites^[c](J) oppressed you, and you cried out to me, did I not deliver you from them? ¹³ But you have abandoned me and worshiped other gods. Therefore, I will not deliver you again. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen.^(K) Let them deliver you whenever you are oppressed.”

¹⁵ But the Israelites said, “We have sinned. Deal with us as you see fit; only rescue us^(L) today!” ¹⁶ So they got rid of the foreign gods^(M) among them and worshiped the Lord,^(N) and he became weary^(O) of Israel’s misery.

¹⁷ The Ammonites were called together, and they camped in Gilead. So the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.^{(P) 18} The rulers^[d] of Gilead said to one another, “Which man will begin the fight against the Ammonites? He will be the leader of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Jephthah Becomes Israel’s Leader

11 Jephthah^(Q) the Gileadite was a valiant warrior,^(R) but he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father. ² Gilead’s wife bore him sons, and when they grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You will have no inheritance in our father’s family, because you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob.^(S) Then some worthless men joined Jephthah and went on raids with him.

⁴ Some time later, the Ammonites fought against Israel. ⁵ When the Ammonites made war with Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶ They said to him, “Come, be our commander, and let’s fight the Ammonites.”

⁷ Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me out of my father’s family? Why then have you come to me now when you’re in trouble?”

⁸ They answered Jephthah, “That’s true. But now we turn to you. Come with us, fight the Ammonites, and you will become leader of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

⁹ So Jephthah said to them, “If you are bringing me back to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me, I will be your leader.”

¹⁰ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord is our witness if we don’t do as you say.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander, and Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of the Lord at Mizpah.

Jephthah Rejects Ammonite Claims

¹² Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, asking, “What do you have against me that you have come to fight me in my land?”

¹³ The king of the Ammonites said to Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came from Egypt, they seized my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok^(T) and the Jordan. Now restore it peaceably.”

¹⁴ Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites ¹⁵ to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. ¹⁶ But when they came from Egypt, Israel traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. ¹⁷ Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us travel through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he refused. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.^(U)

¹⁸ “Then they traveled through the wilderness and around the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon but did not enter into the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.

¹⁹ “Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon.^(V) Israel said to him, ‘Please let us travel through your land to our country,’ ²⁰ but Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. Instead, Sihon gathered all his troops, camped at Jahaz, and fought with Israel. ²¹ Then the Lord God of Israel handed over Sihon and all his troops to Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession^(W) of the entire land of the Amorites who lived in that country. ²² They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

²³ “The Lord God of Israel has now driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, and will you now force us out? ²⁴ Isn’t it true that you can have whatever your god Chemosh conquers for you, and we can have whatever the Lord our God conquers for us? ²⁵ Now are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them? ²⁶ While Israel lived three hundred years in Heshbon and Aroer and their surrounding villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, why didn’t you take them back at that time? ²⁷ I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by fighting against me. Let the Lord who is the judge^(X) decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.” ²⁸ But the king of the Ammonites would not listen to Jephthah’s message that he sent him.

Jephthah’s Vow and Sacrifice

²⁹ The Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, who traveled through Gilead and Manasseh, and then through Mizpah of Gilead. He crossed over to the Ammonites from Mizpah of Gilead. ³⁰ Jephthah made this vow^(Y) to the Lord: “If you in fact hand over the Ammonites to me, ³¹ whoever comes out the doors of my house to greet me when I return safely from the Ammonites will belong to the Lord, and I will offer that person as a burnt offering.”^(Z)

³² Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord handed them over^(AA) to him. ³³ He defeated twenty of their cities with a great slaughter from Aroer all the way to the entrance of Minnith and to Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued^(AB) before the Israelites.

³⁴ When Jephthah went to his home in Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing!^(AC) She was his only child; he had no other son or daughter besides her. ³⁵ When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have devastated me! You have brought great misery on me.^[e] I have given my word to the Lord and cannot take it back.”

³⁶ Then she said to him, “My father, you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me as you have said, for the Lord brought vengeance on your enemies, the Ammonites.” ³⁷ She also said to her father, “Let me do this one thing: Let me wander two months through the mountains with my friends and mourn my virginity.”

³⁸ “Go,” he said. And he sent her away two months. So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity as she wandered through the mountains. ³⁹ At the end of two months, she returned to her father, and he kept the vow he had made about her. And she had never been intimate with a man. Now it became a custom in Israel ⁴⁰ that four days each year the young women of Israel would commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Conflict with Ephraim

12 The men of Ephraim were called together and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon.^(AD) They said to Jephthah, “Why have you crossed over to fight against the Ammonites but didn’t call us to go with you? We will burn your house with you in it!”

² Then Jephthah said to them, “My people and I had a bitter conflict with the Ammonites. So I called for you, but you didn’t deliver me from their power. ³ When I saw that you weren’t going to deliver me, I took my life in my own hands and crossed over to the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why then have you come today to fight against me?”

⁴ Then Jephthah gathered all of the men of Gilead. They fought and defeated Ephraim, because Ephraim had said, “You Gileadites are Ephraimite fugitives in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.” ⁵ The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim. Whenever a fugitive from Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the Gileadites asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he answered, “No,” ⁶ they told him, “Please say Shibboleth.” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce it correctly, they seized him and executed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time forty-two thousand from Ephraim died.

⁷ Jephthah judged Israel six years, and when he died, he was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.^[f]

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

⁸ Ibzan, who was from Bethlehem,^(AE) judged Israel after Jephthah ⁹ and had thirty sons. He gave his thirty daughters in marriage to men outside the tribe and brought back thirty wives for his sons from outside the tribe. Ibzan judged Israel seven years, ¹⁰ and when he died, he was buried in Bethlehem.

¹¹ Elon, who was from Zebulun, judged Israel after Ibzan. He judged Israel ten years, ¹² and when he died, he was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

¹³ After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel, who was from Pirathon,^(AF) judged Israel. ¹⁴ He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. Abdon judged Israel eight years, ¹⁵ and when he died, he was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.^(AG)

Birth of Samson

13 The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight,^(AH) so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines forty years. ² There was a certain man from Zorah,^(AI) from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. ³ The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are unable to conceive and have no children, you will conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴ Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer,^(AJ) or to eat anything unclean;^{(AK) 5} for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair,^[g] because the boy will be a Nazirite^(AL) to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

⁶ Then the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. He looked like the awe-inspiring angel of God. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. ⁷ He said to me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son. Therefore, do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth until the day of his death.’”

⁸ Manoah prayed^(AM) to the Lord and said, “Please, Lord, let the man of God you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born.”

⁹ God listened^(AN) to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman. She was sitting in the field, and her husband, Manoah, was not with her. ¹⁰ The woman ran quickly to her husband and told him, “The man who came to me the other day has just come back!”

¹¹ So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”

“I am,” he said.

¹² Then Manoah asked, “When your words come true, what will be the boy’s responsibilities and work?”

¹³ The angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “Your wife needs to do everything I told her. ¹⁴ She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine or drink wine or beer. And she must not eat anything unclean. Your wife must do everything I have commanded her.”

¹⁵ “Please stay here,” Manoah told him, “and we will prepare a young goat^(AO) for you.”

¹⁶ The angel of the Lord said to him, “If I stay, I won’t eat your food. But if you want to prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” (Manoah did not know he was the angel of the Lord.)

¹⁷ Then Manoah said to him, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?”

¹⁸ “Why do you ask my name,” the angel of the Lord asked him, “since it is beyond understanding?”^(AP)

¹⁹ Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord, who did something miraculous^[h] while Manoah and his wife were watching. ²⁰ When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the Lord went up in its flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown on the ground. ²¹ The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.

²² “We’re certainly going to die,” he said to his wife, “because we have seen God!” ^(AQ)

²³ But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had intended to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us, and he would not have shown us all these things or spoken to us like this.”

²⁴ So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson.^(AR) The boy grew,^(AS) and the Lord blessed him. ²⁵ Then the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in the Camp of Dan,^[i] between Zorah and Eshtaol.^(AT)

Samson’s Riddle

14 Samson went down to Timnah^(AU) and saw a young Philistine woman there. ² He went back and told his father and his mother, “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

³ But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?”

But Samson told his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” ⁴ Now his father and mother did not know this was from the Lord,^(AV) who wanted the Philistines to provide an opportunity for a confrontation.^[j] At that time, the Philistines were ruling Israel.

⁵ Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, ⁶ the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on^(AW) him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. ⁷ Then he went and spoke to the woman, because she seemed right to Samson.

⁸ After some time, when he returned to marry her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass. ⁹ He scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.^(AX)

¹⁰ His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do. ¹¹ When the Philistines saw him, they brought thirty men to accompany him.

¹² “Let me tell you a riddle,”^(AY) Samson said to them. “If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes. ¹³ But if you can’t explain it to me, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they replied.^[k] “Let’s hear it.”

¹⁴ So he said to them:

After three days, they were unable to explain the riddle. ¹⁵ On the fourth^[l] day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s family to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

¹⁶ So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me and don’t love me!^(AZ) You told my people the riddle, but haven’t explained it to me.”

“Look,” he said,^[m] “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”

¹⁷ She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and at last, on the seventh day, he explained it to her, because she had nagged him so much. Then she explained it to her people. ¹⁸ On the seventh day, before sunset, the men of the city said to him:

So he said to them:

¹⁹ The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men. He stripped them and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. In a rage, Samson returned to his father’s house, ²⁰ and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

Samson’s Revenge

15 Later on, during the wheat harvest,^(BA) Samson took a young goat as a gift and visited his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.

² “I was sure you hated her,” her father said, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she is? Why not take her instead?”

³ Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless^(BB) when I harm the Philistines.” ⁴ So he went out and caught three hundred foxes.^(BC) He took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. ⁵ Then he ignited the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned the piles of grain and the standing grain as well as the vineyards and olive groves.^(BD)

⁶ Then the Philistines asked, “Who did this?”

They were told, “It was Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because he took Samson’s wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines went to her and her father and burned them to death.

⁷ Then Samson told them, “Because you did this, I swear that I won’t rest until I have taken vengeance on you.” ⁸ He tore them limb from limb^[n] and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.

⁹ The Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and raided Lehi. ¹⁰ So the men of Judah said, “Why have you attacked us?”

They replied, “We have come to tie Samson up and pay him back for what he did to us.”

¹¹ Then three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines rule us?^(BE) What have you done to us?”

“I have done to them what they did to me,” he answered.^[o]

¹² They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”

Then Samson told them, “Swear to me that you yourselves won’t kill me.”

¹³ “No,” they said,^[p] “we won’t kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they tied him up with two new ropes^(BF) and led him away from the rock.

¹⁴ When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him, and the ropes that were on his arms and wrists became like burnt flax and fell off. ¹⁵ He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and killed a thousand men with it. ¹⁶ Then Samson said:

¹⁷ When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone and named that place Jawbone Hill.^{[q] 18} He became very thirsty and called out to the Lord, “You have accomplished this great victory through your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” ¹⁹ So God split a hollow place in the ground at Lehi, and water came out of it. After Samson drank, his strength returned, and he revived.^(BG) That is why he named it Hakkore Spring,^[r] which is still in Lehi today. ²⁰ And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Samson and Delilah

16 Samson went to Gaza,^(BH) where he saw a prostitute and went to bed with her. ² When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded the place and waited in ambush for him all that night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let’s wait until dawn; then we will kill him.” ³ But Samson stayed in bed only until midnight. Then he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate along with the two gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.

⁴ Some time later, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley. ⁵ The Philistine leaders^(BI) went to her and said, “Persuade him to tell you^[s] where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me, where does your great strength come from? How could someone tie you up and make you helpless?”

⁷ Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

⁸ The Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. ⁹ While the men in ambush were waiting in her room, she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” ^[t] But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of yarn snaps when it touches fire. The secret of his strength remained unknown.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and told me lies! Won’t you please tell me how you can be tied up?”

¹¹ He told her, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used,^(BJ) I will become weak and be like any other man.”

¹² Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and shouted, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men in ambush were waiting in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

¹³ Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me all along and told me lies! Tell me how you can be tied up.”

He told her, “If you weave the seven braids on my head into the fabric on a loom—” ^[u]

¹⁴ She fastened the braids with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin, with the loom and the web.

¹⁵ “How can you say, ‘I love you,’”^(BK) she told him, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great!”

¹⁶ Because she nagged him day after day and pleaded with him until she wore him out,^{[v] 17} he told her the whole truth and said to her, “My hair has never been cut,^[w] because I am a Nazirite^(BL) to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.”

¹⁸ When Delilah realized that he had told her the whole truth, she sent this message to the Philistine leaders: “Come one more time, for he has told me the whole truth.” The Philistine leaders came to her and brought the silver with them.

¹⁹ Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she made him helpless, and his strength left him. ²⁰ Then she cried, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When he awoke from his sleep, he said, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.^(BM)

Samson’s Defeat and Death

²¹ The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison. ²² But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved.

²³ Now the Philistine leaders gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon.^(BN) They rejoiced and said:

²⁴ When the people saw him, they praised their god^(BO) and said:

²⁵ When they were in good spirits,^[x] they said, “Bring Samson here to entertain us.” So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them. They had him stand between the pillars.

²⁶ Samson said to the young man who was leading him by the hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.” ²⁷ The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them. ²⁸ He called out to the Lord, “Lord God, please remember me.^(BP) Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹ Samson took hold of the two middle pillars supporting the temple and leaned against them, one on his right hand and the other on his left. ³⁰ Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.

³¹ Then his brothers and his father’s whole family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. So he judged Israel twenty years.

Micah’s Priest

17 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah. ² He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you, and that I heard you place a curse on—here’s the silver. I took it.”

Then his mother said, “My son, may you be blessed by the Lord!” ^(BQ)

³ He returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I personally consecrate^(BR) the silver to the Lord for my son’s benefit to make a carved image and a silver idol.^[y] I will give it back to you.” ⁴ So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took five pounds of silver and gave it to a silversmith. He made it into a carved image and a silver idol, and it was in Micah’s house.

⁵ This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household idols,^(BS) and installed one of his sons to be his priest. ⁶ In those days there was no king in Israel;^(BT) everyone did whatever seemed right to him.

⁷ There was a young man, a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who was staying within the clan of Judah.^{(BU) 8} The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. On his way he came to Micah’s home in the hill country of Ephraim.

⁹ “Where do you come from?” Micah asked him.

He answered him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I’m going to stay wherever I can find a place.”

¹⁰ Micah replied,^[z] “Stay with me and be my father^(BV) and priest, and I will give you four ounces of silver a year, along with your clothing and provisions.” So the Levite went in ¹¹ and agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons. ¹² Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest^(BW) and lived in Micah’s house. ¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”

Dan’s Invasion and Idolatry

18 In those days, there was no king in Israel,^(BX) and the Danite tribe was looking for territory to occupy.^(BY) Up to that time no territory had been captured by them among the tribes of Israel. ² So the Danites sent out five brave men^(BZ) from all their clans, from Zorah and Eshtaol,^(CA) to scout^(CB) out the land and explore it. They told them, “Go and explore the land.”

They came to the hill country of Ephraim as far as the home of Micah and spent the night there. ³ While they were near Micah’s home, they recognized the accent of the young Levite. So they went over to him and asked, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is keeping you here?”

⁴ He told them, “This is what Micah has done for me: He has hired me, and I became his priest.”

⁵ Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God^(CC) for us to determine if we will have a successful journey.”

⁶ The priest told them, “Go in peace. The Lord is watching over the journey you are going on.”

⁷ The five men left and came to Laish. They saw that the people who were there were living securely, in the same way as the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. There was nothing lacking^[aa] in the land and no oppressive ruler. They were far from the Sidonians, having no alliance with anyone.^[ab]

⁸ When the men went back to their relatives at Zorah and Eshtaol,^(CD) their relatives asked them, “What did you find out?”

⁹ They answered, “Come on, let’s attack them, for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Why wait? Don’t hesitate to go and invade and take possession of the land! ¹⁰ When you get there, you will come to an unsuspecting people and a spacious land, for God has handed it over to you. It is a place where nothing on earth is lacking.”^{(CE) 11} Six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol armed with weapons of war. ¹² They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim^(CF) in Judah. This is why the place is still called the Camp of Dan^[ac] today; it is west of Kiriath-jearim. ¹³ From there they traveled to the hill country of Ephraim and arrived at Micah’s house.

¹⁴ The five men who had gone to scout out the land of Laish told their brothers, “Did you know that there are an ephod, household gods, and a carved image and a silver idol^[ad] in these houses? Now think about what you should do.” ¹⁵ So they detoured there and went to the house of the young Levite at the home of Micah and greeted him. ¹⁶ The six hundred Danite men were standing by the entrance of the city gate, armed with their weapons of war. ¹⁷ Then the five men who had gone to scout out the land went in and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the silver idol,^[ae] while the priest was standing by the entrance of the city gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

¹⁸ When they entered Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the silver idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

¹⁹ They told him, “Be quiet. Keep your mouth shut.^[af](CG) Come with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one person or for you to be a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?” ²⁰ So the priest was pleased and took the ephod, household idols, and carved image, and went with the people. ²¹ They prepared to leave, putting their dependents, livestock, and possessions in front of them.

²² After they were some distance from Micah’s house, the men who were in the houses near it were mustered and caught up with the Danites. ²³ They called to the Danites, who turned to face them, and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you mustered the men?”

²⁴ He said, “You took the gods I had made and the priest, and went away. What do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What’s the matter with you?’”

²⁵ The Danites said to him, “Don’t raise your voice against us, or angry men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.” ²⁶ The Danites went on their way, and Micah turned to go back home, because he saw that they were stronger than he was.

²⁷ After they had taken the gods Micah had made and the priest that belonged to him, they went to Laish, to a quiet and unsuspecting people. They killed them with their swords and burned the city.^{(CH) 28} There was no one to rescue them^(CI) because it was far from Sidon and they had no alliance with anyone. It was in a valley that belonged to Beth-rehob. They rebuilt the city and lived in it. ²⁹ They named the city Dan, after the name of their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel. The city was formerly named Laish.

³⁰ The Danites set up the carved image for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Moses,^[ag] and his sons were priests for the Danite tribe until the time of the exile from the land.^{(CJ) 31} So they set up for themselves Micah’s carved image that he had made, and it was there as long as the house of God was in Shiloh.^(CK)

Outrage in Benjamin

19 In those days, when there was no king in Israel,^(CL) a Levite staying in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim acquired a woman from Bethlehem in Judah as his concubine. ² But she was unfaithful to^[ah] him and left him for her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. She was there for four months. ³ Then her husband got up and followed her to speak kindly to her^(CM) and bring her back. He had his servant with him and a pair of donkeys. So she brought him to her father’s house, and when the girl’s father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. ⁴ His father-in-law, the girl’s father, detained him, and he stayed with him for three days. They ate, drank, and spent the nights there.

⁵ On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning and prepared to go, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Have something to eat to keep up your strength^(CN) and then you can go.” ⁶ So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please agree to stay overnight and enjoy yourself.”^{(CO) 7} The man got up to go, but his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed and spent the night there again. ⁸ He got up early in the morning of the fifth day to leave, but the girl’s father said to him, “Please keep up your strength.” So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate. ⁹ The man got up to go with his concubine and his servant, when his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, night is coming. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, enjoy yourself, then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey and go home.”

¹⁰ But the man was unwilling to spend the night. He got up, departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem^(CP)). The man had his two saddled donkeys and his concubine with him. ¹¹ When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant^(CQ) said to his master, “Please, why not let us stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night here?”

¹² But his master replied to him, “We will not stop at a foreign city where there are no Israelites. Let’s move on to Gibeah.”^{(CR) 13} “Come on,” he said,^[ai] “let’s try to reach one of these places and spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.” ¹⁴ So they continued on their journey, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. ¹⁵ They stopped^[aj] to go in and spend the night in Gibeah. The Levite went in and sat down in the city square, but no one took them into their home to spend the night.

¹⁶ In the evening, an old man came in from his work in the field. He was from the hill country of Ephraim,^(CS) but he was residing in Gibeah where the people were Benjaminites. ¹⁷ When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”

¹⁸ He answered him, “We’re traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote hill country of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I’m going to the house of the Lord.^[ak] No one has taken me into his home, ¹⁹ although there’s straw and feed for the donkeys, and I have bread and wine for me, my concubine, and the servant^[al] with us. There is nothing we lack.”

²⁰ “Welcome!” said the old man. “I’ll take care of everything you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.” ²¹ So he brought him to his house and fed the donkeys. Then they washed their feet and ate and drank.^{(CT) 22} While they were enjoying themselves, all of a sudden, wicked men of the city^(CU) surrounded the house and beat on the door. They said to the old man who was the owner of the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him!”

²³ The owner of the house went out and said to them, “Please don’t do this evil, my brothers. After all, this man has come into my house. Don’t commit this horrible outrage.^{(CV) 24} Here, let me bring out my virgin daughter^(CW) and the man’s concubine now. Abuse them^(CX) and do whatever you want to them. But don’t commit this outrageous thing against this man.”

²⁵ But the men would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and took her outside to them. They raped her and abused her all night until morning. At daybreak they let her go. ²⁶ Early that morning, the woman made her way back, and as it was getting light, she collapsed at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was.

²⁷ When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went out to leave on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, collapsed near the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸ “Get up,” he told her. “Let’s go.” But there was no response.^(CY) So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

²⁹ When he entered his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and then sent her throughout the territory of Israel. ³⁰ Everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or has been seen since the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt until now.^[am] Think it over, discuss it, and speak up!”

War against Benjamin

20 All the Israelites from Dan to Beer-sheba^(CZ) and from the land of Gilead came out, and the community assembled as one body before the Lord at Mizpah.^{(DA) 2} The leaders^(DB) of all the people and of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: four hundred thousand armed foot soldiers. ³ The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.

The Israelites asked, “Tell us, how did this evil act happen?”

⁴ The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered, “I went to Gibeah in Benjamin with my concubine to spend the night. ⁵ Citizens of Gibeah came to attack me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, but they raped my concubine, and she died. ⁶ Then I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout Israel’s territory, because they have committed a wicked outrage in^(DC) Israel. ⁷ Look, all of you are Israelites. Give your judgment and verdict here and now.”

⁸ Then all the people stood united and said, “None of us will go to his tent or return to his house. ⁹ Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will attack it. By lot ¹⁰ we will take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred out of every thousand, and one thousand out of every ten thousand to get provisions for the troops when they go to Gibeah in Benjamin to punish them for all the outrage they committed in Israel.”

¹¹ So all the men of Israel^(DD) gathered united against the city. ¹² Then the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this evil act that has happened among you? ¹³ Hand over the wicked men^(DE) in Gibeah so we can put them to death and purge evil^(DF) from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not listen to their fellow Israelites. ¹⁴ Instead, the Benjaminites gathered together from their cities to Gibeah to go out and fight against the Israelites. ¹⁵ On that day the Benjaminites mobilized twenty-six thousand armed men^(DG) from their cities, besides seven hundred fit young men rallied by the inhabitants of Gibeah. ¹⁶ There were seven hundred fit young men who were left-handed among all these troops; all could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

¹⁷ The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, mobilized four hundred thousand armed men, every one an experienced warrior. ¹⁸ They set out, went to Bethel, and inquired of God.^(DH) The Israelites asked, “Who is to go first to fight for us against the Benjaminites?”

And the Lord answered, “Judah will be first.”

¹⁹ In the morning, the Israelites set out and camped near Gibeah. ²⁰ The men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin and took their battle positions against Gibeah. ²¹ The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and slaughtered twenty-two thousand men of Israel on the field that day. ²² But the Israelite troops rallied and again took their battle positions in the same place where they positioned themselves on the first day. ²³ They went up, wept^(DI) before the Lord until evening,^(DJ) and inquired of him, “Should we again attack our brothers the Benjaminites?”

And the Lord answered, “Fight against them.”

²⁴ On the second day the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites. ²⁵ That same day the Benjaminites came out from Gibeah to meet them and slaughtered an additional eighteen thousand Israelites on the field; all were armed.

²⁶ The whole Israelite army went to Bethel where they wept and sat before the Lord.^(DK) They fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. ²⁷ Then the Israelites inquired of the Lord. In those days, the ark of the covenant^(DL) of God was there, ²⁸ and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron,^(DM) was serving before it. The Israelites asked, “Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites or should we stop?”

The Lord answered, “Fight, because I will hand them over to you tomorrow.”^{(DN) 29} So Israel set up an ambush^(DO) around Gibeah. ³⁰ On the third day the Israelites fought against the Benjaminites and took their battle positions against Gibeah as before. ³¹ Then the Benjaminites came out against the troops and were drawn away from the city.^(DP) They began to attack the troops as before, killing about thirty men of Israel on the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah through the open country. ³² The Benjaminites said, “We are defeating them as before.”

But the Israelites said, “Let’s flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” ³³ So all the men of Israel got up from their places and took their battle positions at Baal-tamar, while the Israelites in ambush charged out of their places west of^[an] Geba.^{(DQ) 34} Then ten thousand fit young men from all Israel made a frontal assault against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce, but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was about to strike them. ³⁵ The Lord defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 men of Benjamin; all were armed. ³⁶ Then the Benjaminites realized they had been defeated.

The men of Israel had retreated before Benjamin, because they were confident in the ambush they had set against Gibeah. ³⁷ The men in ambush had rushed quickly against Gibeah; they advanced and put the whole city to the sword.^{(DR) 38} The men of Israel had a prearranged signal with the men in ambush: when they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city, ³⁹ the men of Israel would return to the battle. When Benjamin had begun to strike them down, killing about thirty men of Israel, they said, “They’re defeated before us, just as they were in the first battle.”^{(DS) 40} But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, Benjamin looked behind them, and the whole city was going up in smoke.^{[ao] 41} Then the men of Israel returned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had struck them. ⁴² They retreated before the men of Israel toward the wilderness,^(DT) but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the cities^[ap] slaughtered those between them. ⁴³ They surrounded the Benjaminites, pursued them, and easily overtook them near Gibeah toward the east. ⁴⁴ There were eighteen thousand men who died from Benjamin; all were warriors. ⁴⁵ Then Benjamin turned and fled toward the wilderness to Rimmon Rock,^(DU) and Israel killed five thousand men on the highways. They overtook them at Gidom and struck two thousand more dead.

⁴⁶ All the Benjaminites who died that day were twenty-five thousand armed men; all were warriors. ⁴⁷ But six hundred men escaped into the wilderness to Rimmon Rock and stayed there four months. ⁴⁸ The men of Israel turned back against the other Benjaminites and killed them with their swords—the entire city, the animals, and everything that remained. They also burned all the cities that remained.

Brides for Benjamin

21 The men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah: “None of us will give his daughter to a Benjaminite in marriage.”^{(DV) 2} So the people went to Bethel and sat there before God^(DW) until evening. They wept loudly and bitterly, ³ and cried out, “Why, Lord God of Israel, has it occurred^[aq] that one tribe is missing in Israel today?” ⁴ The next day the people got up early, built an altar there,^(DX) and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. ⁵ The Israelites asked, “Who of all the tribes of Israel didn’t come to the Lord with the assembly?” For a great oath had been taken that anyone who had not come to the Lord at Mizpah would certainly be put to death.

⁶ But the Israelites had compassion on their brothers, the Benjaminites, and said, “Today a tribe has been cut off from Israel. ⁷ What should we do about wives for the survivors? We’ve sworn to the Lord not to give them any of our daughters as wives.” ⁸ They asked, “Which city among the tribes of Israel didn’t come to the Lord at Mizpah?” It turned out that no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp and the assembly. ⁹ For when the roll was called, no men were there from the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead.

¹⁰ The congregation sent twelve thousand brave warriors there and commanded them, “Go and kill the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the sword,^(DY) including women and dependents. ¹¹ This is what you should do: Completely destroy every male, as well as every woman who has gone to bed with a man.” ¹² They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, who had not been intimate with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

¹³ The whole congregation sent a message of peace^(DZ) to the Benjaminites who were at Rimmon Rock. ¹⁴ Benjamin returned at that time, and Israel gave them the women they had kept alive from Jabesh-gilead. But there were not enough for them.

¹⁵ The people had compassion on Benjamin, because the Lord had made this gap in the tribes of Israel. ¹⁶ The elders of the congregation said, “What should we do about wives for those who are left, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” ¹⁷ They said, “There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. ¹⁸ But we can’t give them our daughters as wives.” For the Israelites had sworn, “Anyone who gives a wife to a Benjaminite is cursed.” ¹⁹ They also said, “Look, there’s an annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh,^(EA) which is north of Bethel, east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”

²⁰ Then they commanded the Benjaminites, “Go and hide in the vineyards. ²¹ Watch, and when you see the young women of Shiloh come out to perform the dances,^(EB) each of you leave the vineyards and catch a wife for yourself from the young women of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. ²² When their fathers or brothers come to us and protest, we will tell them, ‘Show favor to them, since we did not get enough wives for each of them in the battle. You didn’t actually give the women to them, so^[ar] you are not guilty of breaking your oath.’”

²³ The Benjaminites did this and took the number of women they needed from the dancers they caught. They went back to their own inheritance, rebuilt their cities,^(EC) and lived in them. ²⁴ At that time, each of the Israelites returned from there to his own tribe and family. Each returned from there to his own inheritance.

²⁵ In those days there was no king in Israel;^(ED) everyone did whatever seemed right to him.