Book of Judges

And that woman came in the morning, and she fell at the threshold of the house of that man, the master of the house, where the master was, until morning. And the master arose in the morning, and he opened the door of that house, and he went out to go his way, and he found his concubine fallen at the door of that house, her hands upon the threshold. And he said to her, “Arise, let us go,” but she did not answer him, for she was dead, and she had fallen upon the donkeys. And that man arose and went to his country. And he entered his house, and he took a sword, and he seized his concubine, and he cut her from the joints of her bones into twelve parts, and he sent them throughout the people of Israel. And then, everyone who saw this said, “There has never been such a thing, and there has never been seen such a thing from the time Israel came out of Egypt until today.” And he commanded those men whom he had sent, and he said to them, “Thus say to all the people of Israel: ‘Has there ever been such a thing as this from the time the children of Israel came out of Egypt until today? Take counsel for yourselves, and deliberate.’

Judges 20 20 And all the children of Israel went out and gathered together all their assemblies as one man, from Dan to Beer-sheba and Gilead, at Mizpah. And the whole people and every tribe of Israel stood in the assembly of all the people before the Lord, forty thousand foot soldiers who bear arms. And the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, and the children of Israel said, “Let us know where this evil occurred.” And that Levite man answered concerning that woman who was killed, and he said, “In Gibeah of Benjamin I came, I and my concubine, to lodge. And the men of Gibeah rose up against us and surrounded us in that house at night, and they sought to kill me, and as for my concubine, they abused and violated her, and she died.

And I took up the stones and cut them at each joint, and I sent them into all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they had done evil in Israel. And behold, all of you, children of Israel, here stand for you [the word] and counsel. And all the people stood as one man and said, "Our houses are burned, and we shall not enter with our paths." And now, do thus against Gibeah: let us go up against them with our divisions. And we shall take up, each ten men for every hundred, for every people of Israel likewise, and a hundred for ten hundred, and ten hundred for a thousand, those who will guard the provisions for the people on the road for those who travel, to fight against the men of Benjamin because of all the evil that they did against Israel.

And all Israel gathered from their cities to come. And I said to the people of Israel, throughout all the tribe of Benjamin, while they said, "What is this evil that has happened among you?" And now I have gathered the hands of those who sinned at Gibeah, the sons of Belial, and I will cut them off and expel the evil from Israel." But the sons of Benjamin refused to listen to their brothers, the sons of Israel. And the sons of Benjamin gathered from their cities to Gibeah to go out and fight against the sons of Israel. And the sons of Benjamin were slain on that day from their cities: two thousand five hundred men who draw the sword, besides those who dwelt in Gibeah. And those also were slain: seven hundred chosen men, both of whose right hands were all of them, and all these were wounded by stones, and they cut their hair and did not shave.

And all the children of Israel, except the children of Benjamin, four hundred thousand men, bearers of weapons, and all of them men of war, were gathered. And they arose and went up to Bethel, and they inquired of the Lord, and the children of Israel said, "Who shall go up for us as a judge who will fight for us against Benjamin?" And the Lord said to them, "Judah shall go up for you as a judge." And the children of Israel arose and encamped at Gibeah. And all the men of war of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and they engaged them at Gibeah. And the children of Benjamin went out from the city and killed of Israel two and twenty thousand men, that is, those who fell upon the ground. And the children of Israel were strengthened and returned; they went out to fight in that same place where they had fought on the first day.

And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until the evening, and they inquired of the Lord, and they said, “Shall we again do battle with Benjamin, our brother?” And the Lord said to them, “Go up against them.” And the children of Israel came to Benjamin on the second day. And Benjamin went out and received them on the second day from the time they entered, and they slew among them one thousand eight hundred men who fell upon the ground, and all those who bore arms. And all the children of Israel and all the people went up and went to Bethel, and they wept and remained there before the Lord, and the people fasted until the evening, and they offered a sacrifice of salvation to the Lord. And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, and the Ark of the Lord was there in those days.

And Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, stood before them in those days, and they said, “Shall we again go up and go out to battle with the children of Benjamin, our brother, or shall we leave them?” And the Lord said to them, “Go up, for I have delivered them into your hands.” And the children of Israel placed those who would ambush Gibeah of the round. And Israel seized the Benjamites on the third day and fought them at Gibeah as before. And the children of Benjamin went out to meet the people, and they fled from the city, and they began to fight against the people as before on the road, one that goes up to Bethel and one that goes up to Gibeah, in the wilderness, and they killed thirty men of Israel. And the children of Benjamin said, “Let them die before us as before.” And the children of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city onto the roads.

And all the men of Israel rose up from their places and fought at Baʿaltamar, and their wounded among Israel were healed in their places from the evening of Gibeah. And they sent before Gibeah a thousand chosen men from Israel, and the slaughter was fierce, and they did not know that their evil had reached them. And the Lord delivered the Benjamites before Israel, and the children of Israel killed the Benjamites, two hundred and fifty and one hundred, and all these who bore arms. And Benjamin saw that he was slain, and Israel gave them a place because they trusted in their wounded who were over Gibeah. And those who were left went and destroyed the city with the edge of the sword. And Israel commanded those who were left that they should kill them with the sword and burn the city with fire, as a punishment.

And the armies of Israel were smitten in the battle, and as for Benjamin, they seized them to kill them, the armies of Israel were able to kill six hundred men, because they said, "If they do not kill me, I have killed them before me, as he killed before." And that was the hiding place of the fire from the city, like a pillar, and Benjamin looked behind him, and behold, the conflagration of the city had ascended into the sky. And the armies of Israel were smitten, and the armies of Benjamin were thrown into confusion, and they saw that their evil had reached them. And they fled before Israel into the wilderness road, and they reached the battle, and those from the cities killed them in their midst. And they killed the Benjamites, and destroyed them, and utterly annihilated them before Gibeah came from the direction of its morning. And from Benjamin fell one thousand eight hundred men, and all of these were strong warriors.

And they fled and went to the rock of Remmon, and they showed them fifty hundred men, and they left them and abandoned them until [Gedeon?] and they killed from among them two thousand men. And all those who fell from among Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men who bore arms on that day, and all these were strong enemies. And they fled and went into the rock of Remmon, six hundred men, and they dwelt in the rock of Remmon for four months. And the men of Israel besieged the sons of Benjamin and killed them with the edge of the sword, and their cities and their livestock and everything that was found in the cities and their villages which they found they burned with fire. Judges 21 21 And the men of Israel swore in Mizpah, saying, "We will not give a man from among us his daughter to Benjamin.

And all the people went to Mizpah and to Bethel, and they remained until evening before the Lord. And they cried and wept a great weeping. And they said, "Why, O Lord, has this happened within Israel, that one tribe from Israel should perish today?" And then, on the second day, the people gathered and built an altar there and offered a sacrifice of salvation. And the children of Israel said, "Who is it that has separated from the assembly, from all the people of Israel, before the Lord? For their great oath was that whoever separated from the Lord at Mizpah would die," they said. And the children of Israel sent word to Benjamin, their brother, and said, "Will one tribe from Israel perish today?" "What then shall we do to those who remain, because of the women? For we have sworn by the Lord that we would not give our daughters to them in marriage.

And they said, "Who from among the tribes of Israel has gone up to the Lord at Mizpah?" And behold, one man came from Jabesh-Gilead into their assembly. And the people assembled, and behold, one man from Jabesh-Gilead was present. And there were there in their assembly one thousand one hundred and twenty men of the valiant, and they commanded them, saying, "Go and kill all who dwell in Jabesh-Gilead by the edge of the sword, both women and children." And thus they did: they killed every male and every woman who knew a man. And they found among those dwelling in Jabesh-Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known a man, and they brought them into the sight, into Shiloh, into the land of Canaan.

And they said, all their assembly, to Benjamin, those who were within the rock of Rimmon, and they called them to peace. And Benjamin came to the children of Israel in those days, and they gave them wives from among the wives of Jabesh-Gilead, and they rejoiced in this. And the people judged Benjamin, because the man of God had killed among the people of Israel. And the elders of the assembly said, "What shall we do concerning those who remain among the women, because the women of Benjamin have perished?" And they said, "An inheritance remains for Benjamin, and the people shall not be blotted out from Israel." And we, we are not able to give them wives from our daughters, because we have sworn to the children of Israel, saying, 'Cursed is he who gives a woman to Benjamin.'" And they said, "The Lord of hosts at Shiloh, from the days of old, in his own times, he is from the direction of the setting sun of Bethel, and its morning for the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and from the direction of the east to Lebonah.

And they commanded the children of Benjamin, and said to them, "Go and hide in the vineyard groves." And the daughters of those who dwelt in Shiloh hid themselves, while they danced with the lyre, and they came out from the vineyard groves, and they said, "Drink for yourselves, women from the daughters of Shiloh, and come into Benjamin." And if their fathers and their brothers come and reproach you, say to them, "Forgive them, for they brought out their women from death, for it is not you who gave them to them in those days; do not forget." And the children of Benjamin did thus, and they took women by force from among those who were dancing, as they had been instructed, and they came and entered into their inheritance, and they built for themselves cities and dwelt in them. And from there the children of Israel came, each man to his tribe and to his people, and from there each man came to his inheritance.

And in those times, there was no king of Israel; each man did what was right in his own eyes.