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19 In those days there was no king in Israel.
A Depraved Levite and a Depraved City
There was a certain Levite living in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, who took a woman from Bethlehem of Judah as a concubine. 2 But his concubine committed adultery or prostitution against him[a] and left him in order to return to her father’s house in Bethlehem of Judah. She remained there four months.
3 Then her husband got up and went after her to appeal to her heart in order to win her back. He brought with him a young man, who was his servant, and a pair of donkeys.
His concubine let him into her father’s house, and when the woman’s father saw him, he was happy to see him. 4 The Levite’s father-in-law, the father of the young woman, prevailed upon the man to stay with him for three days, eating, drinking, and spending the night there.
5 On the fourth day they got up early in the morning, and the man got ready to leave, but the young woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Build up your strength with a little food. After that you may go.” 6 So the two of them sat around eating and drinking together. Then the young woman’s father said to the man, “Please, I beg you, stay one more night and enjoy yourself.” 7 The Levite got up to go, but his father-in-law pressured him, so he stayed and spent another night there.
8 He got up early on the morning of the fifth day in order to go, but the woman’s father said, “Please build up your strength first.” They delayed until the sun began to go down[b] while the two of them were eating. 9 When the man got up to leave with his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the woman’s father, again said to him, “Please! The day is already turning into evening. Please stay the night. Look! The day is slipping away! Spend the night here, and enjoy yourself! You can get up early tomorrow to be on your way and return to your home.” 10 But the Levite did not want to stay another night. Instead, he got up and went on his way, and he came to Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him the pair of saddled donkeys, as well as his concubine.
11 When they were getting close to Jebus and the day was almost gone, the young man said to his master, “Let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night there.”
12 But his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into a foreign city that does not belong to the people of Israel. We will go on to Gibeah.” 13 He said to his young man, “Come on, we will continue on to one of these other places. We can spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.”
14 So they continued on, and as the sun was going down on them, they came close to Gibeah, which belonged to Benjamin. 15 There they turned aside to spend the night in Gibeah. But when the man went and sat in the city square, there was no one who took them into his house to spend the night.
16 Just then, an old man was coming from his work in the field because it was evening. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, but he was living in Gibeah, though the men of that place were Benjaminites. 17 The old man looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, and the old man said, “Where are you going, and where did you come from?”
18 The Levite said to him, “We are traveling from Bethlehem of Judah to a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there. I traveled as far as Bethlehem of Judah, and now I am going to the House of the Lord, but there is no one who will take me into his house. 19 We even have straw and fodder for our donkeys, and we also have enough bread and wine for me, for your servant my wife, and for the young man. We, your servants, are lacking nothing.”
20 At this the old man said, “Peace be with you. Anything you lack will be my responsibility—only do not spend the night in the city square.” 21 So the old man brought the Levite to his house and fed the donkeys. He washed their feet, and they ate and drank together.
22 As they were making their hearts glad, all of a sudden the men of the city—worthless, good-for-nothing men—surrounded the house, pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the owner of the house, “Bring out the man who has come to your house. We want to get to know[c] him.”
23 But the owner of the household went out to them and said, “No, my brothers, do not do such an evil thing, I beg you. Since this man has come to my house, do not do this disgraceful, foolish thing. 24 Look! Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. Now I will bring them out, and you may abuse them and do to them whatever you see fit. But do not do this disgraceful, foolish thing to this man.”
25 But the men were not willing to listen to him. So the Levite took hold of his concubine and forced her to go out to them. They were intimate with[d] her and mistreated her all night long until morning. Then they let her go at the break of dawn.
26 As morning was dawning, the woman came and collapsed at the entrance to the man’s house, where her husband had been staying until the light of day.
27 When her husband got up in the morning, he opened the doors of the house and went out in order to go on his way. There she was! His concubine had collapsed at the entrance of the house with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up. Let’s go.” But there was no answer. So he put her on the donkey, got up, and returned to his place.
29 When he got home, he took a knife, grabbed his concubine, and cut her into pieces. Limb by limb he cut her into twelve pieces and sent her into all the territory of Israel. 30 Everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever been done or seen, from the day the people of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day.”
⎣The Levite commanded the men he sent to say the following to all the men of Israel: “Has anything like this happened since the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day?⎦ [e]Think this over, come up with a plan, and speak up!”
20 Then all the people of Israel came out, and the whole community from Dan to Beersheba, including the Israelites in Gilead, assembled as one man before the Lord at Mizpah. 2 The pillars[f] of the people from all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of the people of God—four hundred thousand foot soldiers, armed with swords. 3 (The people of Benjamin heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The people of Israel said, “Speak up! How did this evil happen?”
4 Then the Levite, the husband of the woman who had been murdered, answered, “I, along with my concubine, came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. 5 But the citizens of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house during the night. They intended to kill me. They abused my concubine, and she died. 6 So I took hold of my concubine, cut her into pieces, and I sent her to every region of the inheritance of Israel, because the men of Gibeah did this outrageous, foolish deed in Israel. 7 Look! All of you are descendants of Israel! Consider the matter and give your judgment.”
8 All the people then rose up as one man. They said, “Not one of us will go to his tent, nor will any of us return to their homes. 9 Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: We will determine who goes against it by choosing lots. 10 We will choose ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel—and a hundred out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand—to gather provisions for the troops. When the men of Israel arrive at Gibeah[g] in Benjamin, Israel can do to the men of Gibeah what they deserve for all the disgraceful things they did in Israel.” 11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city. The various groups were united as if they were one man.
12 The tribes of Israel sent men through the whole tribe[h] of Benjamin, saying, “What is this evil thing that has been done among you? 13 Now, hand over the men, these worthless, wicked men from Gibeah! We will put them to death and root out this evil from Israel.”
But the people of Benjamin were not willing to listen to the voice of their brothers, the people of Israel. 14 Instead, the people from all the cities of Benjamin gathered at Gibeah to go out for war against the people of Israel. 15 On that day the people of Benjamin mustered from their cities twenty-six thousand men armed with swords, not counting those who lived in Gibeah, from which they mustered an additional seven hundred elite men. 16 From all these troops, there were seven hundred elite soldiers who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a single hair and not miss.
17 Meanwhile, the men of Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand men armed with swords, each of them a trained soldier.
18 They arose and went up to Bethel, and the people of Israel inquired of God, “Who will go up to lead us into the battle against the Benjaminites?”
The Lord said, “Judah will take the lead in the battle.”
19 The Israelites got up in the morning and set up camp against Gibeah. 20 The men of Israel went out for war against Benjamin and lined up for battle at Gibeah. 21 But the Benjaminites came out from Gibeah, and that day they struck down to the ground twenty-two thousand men of Israel!
22 The men of Israel renewed their courage and again lined up for battle in the same spot where they had lined up on the first day. 23 The people of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening. They inquired of the Lord, “Shall we go out again to engage in battle with the people of Benjamin, our brothers?”
Again the Lord said, “Go up against them.”
24 The Israelites approached the Benjaminites on the second day. 25 Benjamin came out from Gibeah to confront them on the second day and took down an additional eighteen thousand men from among the Israelites—right down to the ground!—all of them men armed with swords.
26 After that, all the Israelites, the entire army, went up to Bethel. There they wept and sat before the Lord and fasted all that day until evening. They offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. 27 The people of Israel inquired of the Lord. (The Ark of the Covenant of God was there in those days.) 28 Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was ministering in front of the ark in those days. He asked, “Shall I again go out to battle against our brothers the Benjaminites, or shall I stop?”
The Lord said, “Go up, because tomorrow I will give them into your hand.”
29 Then Israel positioned men in ambushes all around Gibeah. 30 The men of Israel went up against the men of Benjamin on the third day, and they lined up against Gibeah as they had done before. 31 Again the Benjaminites went out to confront the people of Israel. The Benjaminites were drawn away from the city, and they began to strike down some of the people, killing them in the open country as they had done before, along the highway that goes up to Bethel and the one to Gibeah.[i] They killed about thirty men of Israel.
32 The Benjaminites thought, “They are being struck down before us, just as they were before.”
But the Israelites had said, “We will retreat and draw them out of the city to the highways.”
33 So all the men of Israel fell back from their positions and drew up a battle line at Baal Tamar. Then the Israelites who were hiding in ambush came bursting out from their positions west of Geba.[j] 34 Ten thousand specially chosen men from all Israel came out against Gibeah. The battle was fierce, and the Benjaminites did not realize that calamity was about to fall upon them. 35 The Lord struck down Benjamin before Israel, and the Israelites brought Benjamin to ruin on that day. Twenty-five thousand one hundred men, who were armed with swords, fell. 36 Then the Benjaminites saw that they were beaten.
The men of Israel had given ground to Benjamin because they were relying on the men in the ambushes that they had set up near Gibeah. 37 The hidden attackers struck quickly. They dashed into Gibeah, spread out, and struck the entire city with the edge of the sword. 38 This was the signal for the men of Israel and for those in the ambush: When they saw a great cloud of smoke coming up from the city, 39 the men of Israel were to turn back to join the battle.
Benjamin had begun to strike some of the men of Israel dead, about thirty men. So they said, “Look, they are being struck down before us, as they were in the first battle.” 40 But as a column of smoke began to rise above the city, the Benjaminites turned to look behind them, and suddenly they saw that the city was going up toward heaven like a burnt offering. 41 Then the Israelites turned back, and the Benjaminites were horrified because they realized that disaster was falling upon them. 42 They fled from the men of Israel to escape toward the wilderness, but the battle kept up with them, as Israelites from the cities all around them were striking them down. 43 The Israelites encircled Benjamin, pursued them, and overran their positions all the way to Nohah, a spot east of Gibeah. 44 From Benjamin, eighteen thousand fell, all of them strong warriors. 45 The surviving Benjaminites turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the Rock of Rimmon, but five thousand of these men were picked off along the highways. The Israelites caught up with them at Gidom and struck down two thousand more of their men.
46 So the total number of Benjaminites that fell that day was twenty-five thousand men armed with swords, all of them powerful warriors. 47 But the surviving six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the Rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the Rock of Rimmon for four months.
48 The men of Israel had turned back against the Benjaminites and struck them with the edge of the sword. They struck the entire city, including the animals and whatever else could be found. They burned down all the rest of the cities.
Jesus and John the Baptist
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside where he spent some time with them and was baptizing.
23 John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People kept coming and were being baptized, 24 for John had not been thrown into prison yet.
25 Then an argument broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew[a] about purification. 26 His disciples came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, about whom you testified—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him!”
27 John answered, “A man cannot receive a single thing, unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves are witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and listens for him, is overjoyed when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”
31 The one who comes from above is superior to everyone. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in a way that belongs to the earth. The one who comes from heaven is superior to everyone. 32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 The one who has received his testimony has certified that God is true. 34 In fact, the one whom God has sent speaks God’s words, for God[b] gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands. 36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, God’s wrath remains on him.
The Samaritan Woman
4 Jesus[c] found out that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John, 2 though it was not Jesus himself who was baptizing but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back again to Galilee.
Days Five and Six—Animals and Man
24 How many are your works, O Lord!
In wisdom you made them all.
The earth is full of your creatures.
25 Here is the sea, great and very wide.
In it creatures swarm beyond number—
living things, the small with the large.
26 There the ships go back and forth,
and the leviathan[a] that you formed to play in it.
27 All of them wait hopefully for you to give them their food in its time.
28 You give it to them. They gather it up.
You open your hand. They are satisfied with good things.
29 You hide your face. They are terrified.
You take away their breath.
They breathe their last and return to their dust.
30 You send your Spirit—they are created.
You renew the face of the earth.
Closing Benediction and Prayer
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever.
May the Lord rejoice in his works.
32 He looks at the earth and it trembles.
He touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord throughout my life.
I will make music to my God as long as I last.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him.
I will rejoice in the Lord.
35 May sinners come to an end on the earth,
and the wicked—may they be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord![b]
22 Don’t those who plan evil go astray?
But those who plan to do good find mercy and truth.
23 In all hard work there is gain,
but empty talk leads only to poverty.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.