Judges 21 - Ruth 1

New American Standard Bible

Mourning a Lost Tribe

21 Now the men of Israel ^(A)had sworn in Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin ^[a]in marriage.” ^2 (B)So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and raised their voices and wept ^[b]profusely. ³ And they said, “Why, Lord, God of Israel, has this happened in Israel, that one tribe is missing today from Israel?” ⁴ And it came about the next day that the people got up early and built ^(C)an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

⁵ Then the sons of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not go up to the Lord in the assembly?” For ^[c]they had taken a solemn oath concerning anyone ^(D)who did not go up to the Lord at Mizpah, saying, “He shall certainly be put to death.” ⁶ And the sons of Israel were sorry for their brother Benjamin, and said, “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel! ⁷ What are we to do for wives for those who are left, since we have ^(E)sworn by the Lord not to give them any of our daughters as wives?”

Provision for Their Survival

⁸ And they said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not go up to the Lord at Mizpah?” And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. ⁹ For when the people were ^[d]counted, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there. ¹⁰ And the congregation sent twelve thousand ^[e]of the valiant warriors there, and commanded them, saying, “Go and ^(F)strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, along with the women and the children. ¹¹ And this is the thing that you shall do: you ^(G)shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has ^[f]slept with a male.” ¹² And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known a man by ^[g]sleeping with him; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

¹³ Then the whole congregation sent word and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were ^(H)at the rock of Rimmon, and ^(I)proclaimed peace to them. ¹⁴ And the tribe of Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had allowed to live from the women of Jabesh-gilead; but they ^[h]were not enough for them. ¹⁵ And the people were sorry for Benjamin, because the Lord had created a gap in the tribes of Israel.

¹⁶ Then the elders of the congregation said, “What are we to do for wives for those who are left, since the women have been eliminated from Benjamin?” ¹⁷ And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be wiped out from Israel. ¹⁸ But we cannot give them wives from our daughters.” For the sons of Israel ^(J)had sworn, saying, “Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin!”

¹⁹ So they said, “Behold, there is a feast of the Lord from year to year in ^(K)Shiloh, which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south side of Lebonah.” ²⁰ And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, ²¹ and watch; and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to ^[i](L)take part in the dances, then you shall come out of the vineyards, and each of you shall seize his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. ²² And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we shall say to them, ‘^[j]Give them to us voluntarily, because we did not take for each man of Benjamin ^[k]a wife in battle, ^[l](M)nor did you give them to them, ^[m]otherwise you would now be guilty.’” ²³ The sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from those who danced, whom they seized. And they went and returned to their inheritance, and ^(N)rebuilt the cities and lived in them. ²⁴ And the sons of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and each one departed from there to his inheritance.

^25 (O)In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Naomi Widowed

1 Now it came about in the days ^(P)when the judges ^[n]governed, that there was ^(Q)a famine in the land. And a man ^(R)of Bethlehem in Judah went to reside in the land of Moab ^[o]with his wife and his two sons. ² The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. So they ^(S)entered the land of Moab and remained there. ³ Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. ⁴ And they took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other, Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. ⁵ Then ^[p]both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

⁶ Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab, because she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had ^(T)visited His people by ^(U)giving them food. ⁷ So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. ⁸ But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to ^[q]your mother’s house. ^(V)May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that you may find a place of rest, each one in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they raised their voices and wept. ¹⁰ However, they said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.” ¹¹ But Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that ^(W)they may be your husbands? ¹² Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I were even to have a husband tonight and also give birth to sons, ¹³ would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is much more bitter for me than for you, because ^(X)the hand of the Lord has come out against me.”

Ruth’s Loyalty

¹⁴ And they raised their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵ Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her ^(Y)gods; return after your sister-in-law.” ¹⁶ But Ruth said, “Do not plead with me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you sleep, I will sleep. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. ¹⁷ Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May ^(Z)the Lord do so to me, and worse, if anything but death separates ^[r]me from you.” ¹⁸ When ^(AA)she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her about it.

¹⁹ So they both went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, ^(AB)all the city was stirred because of them, and ^[s]the women said, “Is this Naomi?” ²⁰ But she said to them, “Do not call me ^[t]Naomi; call me ^[u]Mara, for ^[v](AC)the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. ²¹ I went away full, but ^(AD)the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me and ^[w]the Almighty has afflicted me?”

²² So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at ^(AE)the beginning of barley harvest.