Judges 17:1-20:11

Revised Standard Version

Micah and the Levite

17 There was a man of the hill country of E′phraim, whose name was Micah. ² And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Lord.” ³ And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, “I consecrate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore I will restore it to you.” ⁴ So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a graven image and a molten image; and it was in the house of Micah. ⁵ And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and installed one of his sons, who became his priest. ⁶ In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷ Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there. ⁸ And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah, to live where he could find a place; and as he journeyed, he came to the hill country of E′phraim to the house of Micah. ⁹ And Micah said to him, “From where do you come?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place.” ¹⁰ And Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, and a suit of apparel, and your living.”^{[a] 11} And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became to him like one of his sons. ¹² And Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. ¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”

The Migration of Dan

18 In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in; for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them. ² So the Danites sent five able men from the whole number of their tribe, from Zorah and from Esh′ta-ol, to spy out the land and to explore it; and they said to them, “Go and explore the land.” And they came to the hill country of E′phraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. ³ When they were by the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; and they turned aside and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” ⁴ And he said to them, “Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me: he has hired me, and I have become his priest.” ⁵ And they said to him, “Inquire of God, we pray thee, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.” ⁶ And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the Lord.”

⁷ Then the five men departed, and came to La′ish, and saw the people who were there, how they dwelt in security, after the manner of the Sido′nians, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking^[b] nothing that is in the earth, and possessing wealth, and how they were far from the Sido′nians and had no dealings with any one. ⁸ And when they came to their brethren at Zorah and Esh′ta-ol, their brethren said to them, “What do you report?” ⁹ They said, “Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very fertile. And will you do nothing? Do not be slow to go, and enter in and possess the land. ¹⁰ When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people. The land is broad; yea, God has given it into your hands, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”

¹¹ And six hundred men of the tribe of Dan, armed with weapons of war, set forth from Zorah and Esh′ta-ol, ¹² and went up and encamped at Kir′iath-je′arim in Judah. On this account that place is called Ma′haneh-dan^[c] to this day; behold, it is west of Kir′iath-je′arim. ¹³ And they passed on from there to the hill country of E′phraim, and came to the house of Micah.

¹⁴ Then the five men who had gone to spy out the country of La′ish said to their brethren, “Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, teraphim, a graven image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you will do.” ¹⁵ And they turned aside thither, and came to the house of the young Levite, at the home of Micah, and asked him of his welfare. ¹⁶ Now the six hundred men of the Danites, armed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate; ¹⁷ and the five men who had gone to spy out the land went up, and entered and took the graven image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war. ¹⁸ And when these went into Micah’s house and took the graven image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹ And they said to him, “Keep quiet, put your hand upon your mouth, and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and family in Israel?” ²⁰ And the priest’s heart was glad; he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

²¹ So they turned and departed, putting the little ones and the cattle and the goods in front of them. ²² When they were a good way from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they overtook the Danites. ²³ And they shouted to the Danites, who turned round and said to Micah, “What ails you that you come with such a company?” ²⁴ And he said, “You take my gods which I made, and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, ‘What ails you?’” ²⁵ And the Danites said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household.” ²⁶ Then the Danites went their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home.

The Danites Settle in Laish

²⁷ And taking what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, the Danites came to La′ish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and smote them with the edge of the sword, and burned the city with fire. ²⁸ And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with any one. It was in the valley which belongs to Beth-rehob. And they rebuilt the city, and dwelt in it. ²⁹ And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but the name of the city was La′ish at the first. ³⁰ And the Danites set up the graven image for themselves; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses,^[d] and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. ³¹ So they set up Micah’s graven image which he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.

The Levite’s Concubine

19 In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of E′phraim, who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. ² And his concubine became angry with^[e] him, and she went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there some four months. ³ Then her husband arose and went after her, to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He had with him his servant and a couple of asses. And he came^[f] to her father’s house; and when the girl’s father saw him, he came with joy to meet him. ⁴ And his father-in-law, the girl’s father, made him stay, and he remained with him three days; so they ate and drank, and lodged there. ⁵ And on the fourth day they arose early in the morning, and he prepared to go; but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and after that you may go.” ⁶ So the two men sat and ate and drank together; and the girl’s father said to the man, “Be pleased to spend the night, and let your heart be merry.” ⁷ And when the man rose up to go, his father-in-law urged him, till he lodged there again. ⁸ And on the fifth day he arose early in the morning to depart; and the girl’s father said, “Strengthen your heart, and tarry until the day declines.” So they ate, both of them. ⁹ And when the man and his concubine and his servant rose up to depart, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Behold, now the day has waned toward evening; pray tarry all night. Behold, the day draws to its close; lodge here and let your heart be merry; and tomorrow you shall arise early in the morning for your journey, and go home.”

¹⁰ But the man would not spend the night; he rose up and departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him a couple of saddled asses, and his concubine was with him. ¹¹ When they were near Jebus, the day was far spent, and the servant said to his master, “Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jeb′usites, and spend the night in it.” ¹² And his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners, who do not belong to the people of Israel; but we will pass on to Gib′e-ah.” ¹³ And he said to his servant, “Come and let us draw near to one of these places, and spend the night at Gib′e-ah or at Ramah.” ¹⁴ So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down on them near Gib′e-ah, which belongs to Benjamin, ¹⁵ and they turned aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gib′e-ah. And he went in and sat down in the open square of the city; for no man took them into his house to spend the night.

¹⁶ And behold, an old man was coming from his work in the field at evening; the man was from the hill country of E′phraim, and he was sojourning in Gib′e-ah; the men of the place were Benjaminites. ¹⁷ And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfarer in the open square of the city; and the old man said, “Where are you going? and whence do you come?” ¹⁸ And he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of E′phraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah; and I am going to my home;^[g] and nobody takes me into his house. ¹⁹ We have straw and provender for our asses, with bread and wine for me and your maidservant and the young man with your servants; there is no lack of anything.” ²⁰ And the old man said, “Peace be to you; I will care for all your wants; only, do not spend the night in the square.” ²¹ So he brought him into his house, and gave the asses provender; and they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

Gibeah’s Crime

²² As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, base fellows, beset the house round about, beating on the door; and they said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.” ²³ And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brethren, do not act so wickedly; seeing that this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing. ²⁴ Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine; let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do with them what seems good to you; but against this man do not do so vile a thing.” ²⁵ But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine, and put her out to them; and they knew her, and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. ²⁶ And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, till it was light.

²⁷ And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸ He said to her, “Get up, let us be going.” But there was no answer. Then he put her upon the ass; and the man rose up and went away to his home. ²⁹ And when he entered his house, he took a knife, and laying hold of his concubine he divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. ³⁰ And all who saw it said, “Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak.”

The Other Tribes Attack Benjamin

20 Then all the people of Israel came out, from Dan to Beer-sheba, including the land of Gilead, and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at Mizpah. ² And the chiefs of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand men on foot that drew the sword. ³ (Now the Benjaminites heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the people of Israel said, “Tell us, how was this wickedness brought to pass?” ⁴ And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “I came to Gib′e-ah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night. ⁵ And the men of Gib′e-ah rose against me, and beset the house round about me by night; they meant to kill me, and they ravished my concubine, and she is dead. ⁶ And I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed abomination and wantonness in Israel. ⁷ Behold, you people of Israel, all of you, give your advice and counsel here.”

⁸ And all the people arose as one man, saying, “We will not any of us go to his tent, and none of us will return to his house. ⁹ But now this is what we will do to Gib′e-ah: we will go up against it by lot, ¹⁰ and we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, to bring provisions for the people, that when they come they may requite Gib′e-ah of Benjamin, for all the wanton crime which they have committed in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one man.