Study Desk

So the priest was pleased and took his ephod, household idols, and carved image, and went with the people.

So they set up for themselves Micah's carved image that he had made, and it was there as long as the house of God was in Shiloh.

Then her husband got up and went after her to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He had his servant with him and a pair of donkeys. So she brought him to her father's house, and when the girl's father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.

So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl's father said to the man, "Please agree to stay overnight and enjoy yourself."

The man got up to go, but his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed and spent the night there again.

He got up early in the morning of the fifth day to leave, but the girl's father said to him, "Please keep up your strength." So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate.

So they continued on their journey, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin.

So he brought him to his house and fed the donkeys. Then they washed their feet and ate and drank.

While they were enjoying themselves, all of a sudden, perverted men of the city surrounded the house and beat on the door. They said to the old man who was the owner of the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him!"

But the men would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and took her outside to them. They raped her and abused her all night until morning. At daybreak they let her go.

"Get up," he told her. "Let's go." But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

So all the men of Israel gathered united against the city.

Hand over the perverted men in Gibeah so we can put them to death and eradicate evil from Israel." But the Benjaminites would not obey their fellow Israelites.

So Israel set up an ambush around Gibeah.

So all the men of Israel got up from their places and took their battle positions at Baal-tamar, while the Israelites in ambush charged out of their places west of Geba.

So the people went to Bethel and sat there before God until evening. They wept loudly and bitterly,

They said, "There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out.

When their fathers or brothers come to us and protest, we will tell them, ‘Show favor to them, since we did not get enough wives for each of them in the battle. You didn't actually give the women to them, so you are not guilty of breaking your oath.'"

Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Yahweh punish me, and do so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.

So Naomi came back from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.