Day 69 of 365

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.

¹It happened in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

²The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. They came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

³Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons.

⁴And they took for themselves wives from the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they lived there about ten years.

⁵Mahlon and Chilion died both of them; and the woman was left of her two children and of her husband.

⁶Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.

⁷She went forth out of 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.

⁸Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to her mother's house: the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead, and with me.

⁹The Lord grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband." Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice, and wept.

¹⁰They said to her, "No, but we will return with you to your people."

¹¹Naomi said, "Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

¹²Go back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, 'I have hope,' if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons;

¹³would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me much for your sakes, for the hand of the Lord has gone out against me."

¹⁴They lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth joined with her.

¹⁵She said, "Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law.

¹⁶Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you, and to return from following after you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay; your people shall be my people, and your God my God;

¹⁷where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death part you and me."

¹⁸When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her.

¹⁹So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. It happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they asked, "Is this Naomi?"

²⁰She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi. Call me Marah; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

²¹I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?"

²²So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

¹Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.

²Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor." She said to her, "Go, my daughter."

³She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

⁴Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, "The Lord be with you." They answered him, "The Lord bless you."

⁵Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, "Whose young lady is this?"

⁶The servant who was set over the reapers answered, "It is the Moabite lady who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.

⁷She said, 'Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.' So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she stayed a little in the house."

⁸Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field, and do not go from here, but stay here close to my maidens.

⁹Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Haven't I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from that which the young men have drawn."

¹⁰Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, since I am a foreigner?"

¹¹Boaz answered her, "It has fully been shown to me, all that you have done to your mother-in-law since the death of your husband; and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn't know before.

¹²May the Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."

¹³Then she said, "Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your handmaid, though I am not as one of your handmaidens."

¹⁴At meal time Boaz said to her, "Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar." She sat beside the reapers, and they reached her parched grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left some of it.

¹⁵When she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.

¹⁶Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and do not rebuke her."

¹⁷So she gleaned in the field until evening; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

¹⁸She took it up, and went into the city; and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought out and gave to her that which she had left after she was sufficed.

¹⁹Her mother-in-law said to her, "Where have you gleaned today? And where have you worked? Blessed be he who noticed you." She showed her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, "The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz."

²⁰Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "Blessed be he of the Lord, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead." Naomi said to her, "The man is a close relative to us, one of our near kinsmen."

²¹Ruth the Moabitess said, "Yes, he said to me, 'You shall stay close to my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.'"

²²Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidens, and that they not meet you in any other field."

²³So she stayed close to the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law.