Day 116 of 730

¹Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to the Lord at Mizpah.

²The leaders of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen who drew sword.

³(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The children of Israel said, "Tell us, how did this wickedness happen?"

⁴The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered, "I came into Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night.

⁵The men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, and they raped my concubine, and she is dead.

⁶I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed wickedness and disgrace in Israel.

⁷Behold, you children of Israel, all of you, give your advice and counsel here."

⁸All the people arose as one man, saying, "None of us will go to his tent, neither will any of us return to his house.

⁹But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot;

¹⁰and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to get food for the people, that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, they may do to it according to all the disgrace that they have committed in Israel."

¹¹So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one man.

¹²The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, "What wickedness is this that has happened among you?

¹³Now therefore deliver up the men, the wicked men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel." But Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel.

¹⁴The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

¹⁵The children of Benjamin were numbered on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

¹⁶Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; everyone could sling stones at a hair and not miss.

¹⁷The men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men who drew sword: all these were men of war.

¹⁸The children of Israel arose, and went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God; and they said, "Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin?" The Lord said, "Judah first."

¹⁹The children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah.

²⁰The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah.

²¹The children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites on that day Twenty-two thousand men.

²²The people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and set the battle again in array in the place where they set themselves in array the first day.

²³The children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening; and they asked of the Lord, saying, "Shall I again draw near to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?" The Lord said, "Go up against him."

²⁴The children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.

²⁵Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.

²⁶Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

²⁷The children of Israel asked of the Lord (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

²⁸and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), "Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease?" The Lord said, "Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand."

²⁹Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah.

³⁰The children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.

³¹The children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to strike and kill some of the people, as at other times, on the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel, and the other to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

³²The children of Benjamin said, "They are defeated before us, as previously." But the children of Israel said, "Let us flee, and draw them away from the city to the highways."

³³All the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at Baal Tamar. And the men of Israel in ambush rushed out of their place, even out of Maareh Geba.

³⁴There came over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was severe; but they didn't know that disaster was close upon them.

³⁵The Lord struck Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men: all armed with swords.

³⁶So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated; for the men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin, because they trusted the ambushers whom they had set against Gibeah.

³⁷The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; and the ambushers drew themselves along, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.

³⁸Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambushers was that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.

³⁹The men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, "Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle."

⁴⁰But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and behold, the whole city went up in smoke into the sky.

⁴¹The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified; for they saw that disaster had come on them.

⁴²Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in its midst.

⁴³They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and overtook them opposite Gibeah toward the east.

⁴⁴There fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valor.

⁴⁵They turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon: and they killed on the highways five thousand men, and followed hard after them to Gidom, and struck down two thousand men.

⁴⁶So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand swordsmen; all these were valiant fighters.

⁴⁷But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and stayed in the rock of Rimmon four months.

⁴⁸The men of Israel turned again on the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the livestock, and all that they found: moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.

¹Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, "There shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin as wife."

²The people came to Bethel, and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept severely.

³They said, "Lord God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel?"

⁴It happened on the next day that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

⁵The children of Israel said, "Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up in the assembly to the Lord?" For they had made a great oath concerning anyone who did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah, saying, "He shall surely be put to death."

⁶The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, "There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.

⁷How shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?"

⁸They said, "What one is there of the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah?" Behold, no one came to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.

⁹For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there.

¹⁰The congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the most valiant, and commanded them, saying, "Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones.

¹¹This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has slept with a man."

¹²They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

¹³The whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them.

¹⁴Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead: and yet so they weren't enough for them.

¹⁵The people grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel.

¹⁶Then the elders of the congregation said, "How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?"

¹⁷They said, "There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel.

¹⁸However we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, 'Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.'"

¹⁹They said, "Behold, there is a feast of the Lord from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah."

²⁰They commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,

²¹and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards, and each man catch his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

²²It shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, 'Grant them graciously to us, because we didn't take wives for each man in battle, neither did you give them to them, otherwise you would now be guilty.'"

²³The children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off. They went and returned to their inheritance, built the cities, and lived in them.

²⁴The children of Israel departed there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.

²⁵In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

¹I love the Lord, because he listens to my voice, and my cries for mercy.

²Because he has turned his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

³The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.

⁴Then I called on the name of the Lord: "Lord, I beg you, deliver my soul."

⁵The Lord is Gracious and righteous. Yes, our God is merciful.

⁶The Lord preserves the simple. I was brought low, and he saved me.

⁷Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

⁸For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

⁹I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

¹⁰I believed, therefore I said, "I am greatly afflicted."

¹¹I said in my haste, "All men are liars."

¹²What will I give to the Lord for all his benefits toward me?

¹³I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.

¹⁴I will pay my vows to the Lord, yes, in the presence of all his people.

¹⁵Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his holy ones.

¹⁶Lord, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your handmaid. You have freed me from my chains.

¹⁷I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call on the name of the Lord.

¹⁸I will pay my vows to the Lord, yes, in the presence of all his people,

¹⁹in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of you, Jerusalem. Praise Yah!

¹When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you;

²put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite.

³Do not be desirous of his dainties, seeing they are deceitful food.

⁴Do not weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint.

⁵Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.

⁶Do not eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and do not crave his delicacies:

⁷for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

⁸The morsel which you have eaten you shall vomit up, and lose your good words.

⁹Do not speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Do not move the ancient boundary stone. Do not encroach on the fields of the fatherless:

¹¹for their Defender is strong. He will plead their case against you.

¹²Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.

¹³Do not withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Punish him with the rod, and save his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad, even mine:

¹⁶yes, my heart will rejoice, when your lips speak what is right.

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners; but rather fear the Lord all the day long.

¹⁸Indeed surely there is a future hope, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path!

²⁰Do not be among ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat:

²¹for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

²²Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

²³Buy the truth, and do not sell it. Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.

²⁴The father of the righteous has great joy. Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.

²⁵Let your father and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice!

²⁶My son, give me your heart; and let your eyes keep in my ways.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well.

²⁸Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful among men.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine.

³¹Do not look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.

³²In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things.

³⁴Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the midst of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging:

³⁵"They hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I do not feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I can find another."