Study Desk

So all the Israelites were completely united, and they gathered together to attack the town.

Give up those evil men, those troublemakers from Gibeah, so we can execute them and purge Israel of this evil." But the people of Benjamin would not listen.

So the Israelites left early the next morning and camped near Gibeah.

So the next day they went out again to fight against the men of Benjamin,

So the Israelites set an ambush all around Gibeah.

Then the warriors of Benjamin shouted, "We're defeating them as we did before!" But the Israelites had planned in advance to run away so that the men of Benjamin would chase them along the roads and be drawn away from the town.

There were 10,000 elite Israelite troops who advanced against Gibeah. The fighting was so heavy that Benjamin didn't realize the impending disaster.

So the Lord helped Israel defeat Benjamin, and that day the Israelites killed 25,100 of Benjamin's warriors, all of whom were experienced swordsmen.

So they turned around and fled before the Israelites toward the wilderness. But they couldn't escape the battle, and the people who came out of the nearby towns were also killed.

So that day the tribe of Benjamin lost 25,000 strong warriors armed with swords,

So they asked, "Who among the tribes of Israel did not join us at Mizpah when we assembled in the presence of the Lord ?" And they discovered that no one from Jabesh-gilead had attended the assembly.

So the assembly sent 12,000 of their best warriors to Jabesh-gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children.

So the elders of the assembly asked, "How can we find wives for the few who remain, since the women of the tribe of Benjamin are dead?

There must be heirs for the survivors so that an entire tribe of Israel is not wiped out.

So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. Each man caught one of the women as she danced in the celebration and carried her off to be his wife. They returned to their own land, and they rebuilt their towns and lived in them.

In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him.

Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland.

So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. "Is it really Naomi?" the women asked.

So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech.