25 And the children of Dan said to him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest 6 angry fellows rush upon thee, and thou lose thy, life, with the lives of thy household.

26 And the children of Dan departed: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

27 And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came to Laish, to a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.

28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they built a city and dwelt in it.

Before CHRIST, 1406.

Heb. bitter of soul.

Josh.19.47.

c. 17. 6. & 18.1.&21.25.

1 Heb. a wo

man a con

cubine, or,
a wife a
concubine.

2or, a year and four months.

3 Heb. days four months.

29 And they called the name of the bcity Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel: but the name of the city was Laish at the first. 30 ¶ And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe 4 Heb. to her of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

31 And they set up for themselves Micah's graven image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

CHAP. XIX.

1 A Levite goeth to Beth-lehem to bring home 6 his wife: 16 an old man entertaineth him at Gibeah. 22 The Gibeathites abuse his concu. bine to death. 29 He divideth her into twelve pieces, to send them to the twelve tribes.

A

heart.

5 Heb.

strengthen.

Heb. till the day declined.

ND it came to pass in those days, 7 Heb. is a when there was no king in Israel, weak. that there was a certain Levite dwelling on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehemjudah.

2 And his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him to her father's house to Beth-lehem-judah, 8 and was there 2 3 four whole months.

3 And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak 4 kindly to her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.

Heb. it is the pitching time of the day.

his father-in-law urged him: therefore he lodged there again.

8 And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart: and the damsel's father said, Comfort thy heart, I pray thee. And they tarried 6 until afternoon, and they ate both of them.

9 And when the man arose to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the damsel's father, said to him, Behold now the day 7 draweth towards evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, s the day is coming to an end, lodge here, that thy heart may be merry; and to-morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go s home.

10 But the man would not tarry that night, but he arose and departed, and came 10 over against Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with him two asses saddled, his concubine also was with him.

11" And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in to this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.

12 And his master said to him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel; we will pass over to Gibeah.

13 And he said to his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah.

14 And they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin.

15 And they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah: and when he went in, he sat down in a street of the city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodge.

16 T And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at evening, who was also of mount Ephraim; and he dwelt in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjaminites.

17 And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?

18 And he said to him, We are passing from Beth-lehem-Judah towards the side of mount Ephraim; from thence an 1: and I went to Beth-lehem-judah, but

him three days: so they ate and drank,

and lodged there.

5 And it came to pass on the fourth day, when they arose early in the morning, that he arose to depart: and the damsel's father said to his son-in-law, 10 Heb. to 5 Comfort thy heart with a morsel of over bread, and afterward depart.

6 And they sat down, and ate and drank both of them together: for the damsel's father had said to the man, Be

against.

and there is no man that 11 receiveth me into his house.

19 Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man which is with thy servants: there is no want of any thing.

20 And the old man said, Peace be with thee; however, let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street. 21 So he brought him into his house, and gave provender to the asses: and

and let thy heart be merry.

7 And when the man rose to depart,

ereth.

certain sons of Belial, beset the house on all sides, and beat at the door, and spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may know him. 23 And the man, the master of the

Before CHRIST, 1406.

5 And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they 2 forced, that she is dead.

6 And I took my concubine, and cut

them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into my house, do not this folly. 24 Behold, here is my daughter, a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good to you: but to this man do not 12 so vile a thing.

25 But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth to them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.

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

12 Heb. the matter of this folly.

27 And her lord rose 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, and her hands were 1 Heb. the upon the threshhold.

28 And he said to her, Rise, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her upon an ass, and the man rose, and went to his place.

man the Levite.

29 ¶ And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, with her 2 Heb. bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her bled. into all the borders of Israel.

30 And it was so, that all that saw it, said, There hath been no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came from the land of Egypt to this day: consider of it, take advice, and • speak your minds..

CHAP. XX.

1 The Levite, in a general assembly, declareth his wrong. 8 The decree of the assembly. 12 The Benjaminites being cited, make head against the Israelites. 18 The Israelites in two battles lose forty thousand. 26 They destroy by a stratagem all the Benjaminites except six hundred.

THEN all the children of Israel went

congregation was as

sembled as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, to the LORD in Mizpeh.

2 And the chief 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 that drew sword.

3 (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness?

all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.

7 Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel..

8¶ And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house:

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

10 And we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch provisions for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel.

11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, 3 knit together as

one man.

3 Heb. fel

lows.

4 And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth| to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to c. 3. 15. lodge.

15 And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred cho sen men.

16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men a left-handed; every one could sling stones to a hairbreadth, and not miss.

17 And the men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.

18 ¶ And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up first.

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

20 And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah.

21 And the children of Benjamin

came forth from Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men. 22 And the people the men of Israel. encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day. 23 (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and asked counsel of the LORD, Saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.)

24 And the children of Israel camé near against the children of Benjamin the second day.

25 And Benjamin 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.

26 ¶ Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the LORD.

27 And the children of Israel inquired of 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

Before

CHRIST,

1406.

4 Heb. to

smite of the people wounded

as at, &c.

because they trusted to the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah.

37 And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the liers in wait 6 drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword.

38 Now there was an appointed 7 sign between the men of Israel's and the liers in wait, that they should make a great 9 flame with smoke to rise from the city.

39 And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle.

40 But when the flame began to rise from the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjaminites looked behind them, and behold 11 the flame of the city ascended to heaven.

41 And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil 12 had come upon them.

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

43 Thus they inclosed the Benjaminites on all sides, and chased them, and trod them down 13 with ease 14 over

my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to-morrow I will deliver them into thy hand.

29 And Israel set liers in wait around Gibeah.

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

tion.

31 And the children of Benjamin went 7 or, time. out against the people, and were drawn 8 Heb. with. away from the city; and they began 4 to smite of the people, and kill, as at other 9 Heb. elevatimes, in the highways, of which one goeth up to 5 the house of God, and the other 10 Heb. to to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

32 And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city to the highways.

11

smite the wounded.

Heb. the whole consumption.

12 Heb. touched them.

33 And all the men of Israel rose out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, Menuchah, even out of the meadows of Gibeah.

13 or, from

&c.

34 And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Isra-14 Heb. unto el, and the battle was severe: but they knew not that evil was near them.

over against.

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

45 And they turned and fled towards the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them to Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.

46 So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were ⚫ men of valor.

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

48 And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that 15 came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that is they