1 

There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.

2 

He said to his mother, "The eleven hundred pieces of silver that 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."His mother said, "May the LORD bless my son!"

3 

He restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, then his mother said, "I most certainly dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make an engraved image and a molten image. Now therefore I will restore it to you."

4 

When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, who made an engraved image and a molten image out of it. It was in the house of Micah.

5 

The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

6 

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.

7 

There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he lived there.

8 

The man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah, to live where he could find a place, and he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he traveled.

9 

Micah said to him, "Where did you come from?"He said to him, "I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I am looking for a place to live."

10 

Micah said to him, "Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, a suit of clothing, and your food." So the Levite went in.

11 

The Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons.

12 

Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

13 

Then Micah said, "Now know I that the LORD will do good to me, since I have a Levite as my priest."

1 

In those days there was no king in Israel. In those days the tribe of the Danites sought an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day, their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.

2 

The children of Dan sent five men of their family from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it. They said to them, "Go, explore the land!"They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there.

3 

When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; so they turned aside there, and said to him, "Who brought you here? What do you do in this place? What do you have here?"

4 

He said to them, "Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I am become his priest."

5 

They said to him, "Please ask counsel of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous."

6 

The priest said to them, "Go in peace. Your way in which you go is before The LORD."

7 

Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people who were there, how they lived in safety, in the way of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no one in the land, possessing authority, that might put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with anyone else.

8 

They came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol; and their brothers asked them, "What do you say?"

9 

They said, "Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. Do you stand still? Don't be slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land.

10 

When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people, and the land is large; for God has given it into your hand, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth."

11 

The family of the Danites set out from Zorah and Eshtaol, with six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

12 

They went up and encamped in Kiriath Jearim, in Judah. Therefore they called that place Mahaneh Dan, to this day. Behold, it is behind Kiriath Jearim.

13 

They passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

14 

Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered, and said to their brothers, "Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and an engraved image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you have to do."

15 

They turned aside there, and came to the house of the young Levite man, even to the house of Micah, and asked him how he was doing.

16 

The six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate.

17 

The five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the engraved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

18 

When these went into Micah's house, and took the engraved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, "What are you doing?"

19 

They said to him, "Hold your peace, put your hand on your mouth, and go 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 a family in Israel?"

20 

The priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, the teraphim, and the engraved image, and went with the people.

21 

So they turned and departed, and put the little ones, the livestock, and the goods before them.

22 

When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah's house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan.

23 

As they cried to the children of Dan, they turned their faces, and said to Micah, "What ails you, that you come with such a company?"

24 

He said, "You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away! What more do I have? How can you ask me, 'What ails you?'"

25 

The children of Dan said to him, "Don't let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall on you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household."

26 

The children of Dan went their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

27 

They took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword; then they burned the city with fire.

28 

There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone else; and it was in the valley that lies by Beth Rehob. They built the city, and lived in it.

29 

They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel; however the name of the city used to be Laish.

30 

The children of Dan set up for themselves the engraved image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, 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 for themselves Micah's engraved image which he made, and it remained all the time that God's house was in Shiloh.

1 

In those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite living on the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim, who took for himself a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah.

2 

His concubine played the prostitute against him, and went away from him to her father's house to Bethlehem Judah, and was there for four months.

3 

Her husband arose, and went after her, to speak kindly to her, to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of donkeys. She brought him into her father's house; and when the father of the young lady saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.

4 

His father-in-law, the young lady's father, kept him there; and he stayed with him three days. So they ate and drank, and stayed there.

5 

On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning, and he rose up to depart. The young lady's father said to his son-in-law, "Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward you shall go your way."

6 

So they sat down, ate, and drank, both of them together. Then the young lady's father said to the man, "Please be pleased to stay all night, and let your heart be merry."

7 

The man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged him, and he stayed there again.

8 

He arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart; and the young lady's father said, "Please strengthen your heart and stay until the day declines"; and they both ate.

9 

When the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the young lady's father, said to him, "Behold, now the day draws toward evening, please stay all night. Behold, the day is ending. Stay here, that your heart may be merry; and tomorrow go on your way early, that you may go home."

10 

But the man wouldn't stay that night, but he rose up and departed, and toward Jebus (also called Jerusalem). With him were a couple of saddled donkeys. His concubine also was with him.

11 

When they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, "Please come and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites, and stay in it."

12 

His master said to him, "We won't turn aside into the city of a foreigner that is not of the children of Israel; but we will pass over to Gibeah."

13 

He said to his servant, "Come and let us draw near to one of these places; and we will lodge in Gibeah, or in Ramah."

14 

So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.

15 

They turned aside there, to go in to stay in Gibeah. He went in, and sat down in the street of the city; for there was no one who took them into his house to stay.

16 

Behold, an old man came from his work out of the field at evening. Now the man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites.

17 

He lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, "Where are you going? Where did you come from?"

18 

He said to him, "We are passing from Bethlehem Judah to the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem Judah. I am going to The LORD's house; and there is no one who has taken me into his house.

19 

Yet there is both straw and feed for our donkeys; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your servant, and for the young man who is with your servants. There is no lack of anything."

20 

The old man said, "Peace be to you; how ever let me supply all your needs. Just don't sleep in the street."

21 

So he brought him into his house, and gave the donkeys fodder. Then they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

22 

As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows, surrounded the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, "Bring out the man who came into your house, that we can have sex with him!"

23 

The man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, "No, my brothers, please don't act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, don't do this folly.

24 

Behold, here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them what seems good to you; but to this man don't do any such folly."

25 

But the men wouldn't listen to him: so the man laid hold of his concubine, and brought her out to them; and they had sex with her, and abused her all night until the morning. When the day began to dawn, they let her go.

26 

Then the woman came in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, until it was light.

27 

Her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and behold, the woman his concubine had fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold.

28 

He said to her, "Get up, and let us be going!" but no one answered. Then he took her up on the donkey; and the man rose up, and went to his place.

29 

When he had come into his house, he took a knife, and cut up his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel.

30 

It was so, that all who saw it said, "Such a deed has not been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day! Consider it, take counsel, and speak."

1 

Then 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.

2 

The chiefs 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?"

4 

The 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.

5 

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

6 

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 lewdness and folly in Israel.

7 

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

8 

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

9 

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

10 

and 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 they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have worked in Israel."

11 

So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

12 

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

13 

Now therefore deliver up the men, the base fellows, 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.

14 

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

15 

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

16 

Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed. Every one of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

17 

The men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were counted four hundred thousand men who drew sword. All these were men of war.

18 

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

19 

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

20 

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

21 

The children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day destroyed twenty-two thousand of the Israelite men down to the ground.

22 

The 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.

23 

The 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."

24 

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

25 

Benjamin went out 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.

26 

Then 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; then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before The LORD.

27 

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

28 

and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, "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."

29 

Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah.

30 

The 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.

31 

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

32 

The children of Benjamin said, "They are struck down before us, as at the first." But the children of Israel said, "Let us flee, and draw them away from the city to the highways."

33 

All the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at Baal Tamar. Then the ambushers of Israel broke out of their place, even out of Maareh Geba.

34 

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

35 

The LORD struck Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men. All these drew the sword.

36 

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

37 

The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; then the ambushers spread out, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.

38 

Now 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.

39 

The 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 struck down before us, as in the first battle."

40 

But 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 to the sky.

41 

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

42 

Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the middle of it.

43 

They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and trod them down at their resting place, as far as near Gibeah toward the sunrise.

44 

Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor.

45 

They turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon; and they gleaned five thousand men of them in the highways, and followed hard after them to Gidom, and struck two thousand men of them.

46 

So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword. All these were men of valor.

47 

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

48 

The 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.

1 

Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, "None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife."

2 

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

3 

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

4 

On the next day, the people rose early, and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

5 

The children of Israel said, "Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who didn't come up in the assembly to The LORD?" For they had made a great oath concerning him who didn't come up to the LORD to Mizpah, saying, "He shall surely be put to death."

6 

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

7 

How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?"

8 

They said, "What one is there of the tribes of Israel who didn't come up to the LORD to Mizpah?" Behold, no one came from Jabesh Gilead to the camp to the assembly.

9 

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

10 

The congregation sent twelve thousand of the most valiant men there, 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.

11 

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

12 

They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins, who had not known man by lying with him; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

13 

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

14 

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

15 

The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

16 

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

17 

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

18 

However 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.'"

19 

They 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."

20 

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

21 

and see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards, and each man catch his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

22 

It 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 for each man his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, otherwise you would now be guilty.'"

23 

The children of Benjamin did so, and took wives for themselves, 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.

24 

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

25 

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.