Study Desk

We will take ten men of every 100 among the families of Israel, and 100 of every 1,000, and 1,000 of every 10,000. They will take food for the people. So when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, they may punish them for all the acts of shame they have done in Israel."

So the people of Israel got up in the morning and went to get ready to fight against Gibeah.

So the sons of Israel came to fight against the sons of Benjamin the second day.

So Israel sent men to hide around Gibeah.

The sons of Benjamin said, "They are being killed in front of us as they were the first day." But the sons of Israel said, "Let us run away so we can get them away from the city and to the roads."

When 10,000 chosen men of Israel came against Gibeah, the battle was hard. But the people of Benjamin did not know that such danger was so close to them.

So the people of Benjamin saw that they had lost the battle. The men of Israel ran from Benjamin because they trusted in the men who were hiding and waiting to take Gibeah.

So they turned their backs to the men of Israel and ran toward the desert. But they were caught in the battle. Those who came out of the cities destroyed them.

So 18,000 men of Benjamin were killed. All of them were powerful soldiers.

So 25,000 men of Benjamin were killed that day. All of them were powerful soldiers who used the sword.

So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening. In loud voices they cried,

They found 400 young women who had never had a man. So they brought them to the tents at Shiloh, in the land of Canaan.

So the people of Benjamin returned. The people of Israel gave them the women they had saved alive from the women of Jabesh-gilead. But there were not enough for them.

So they said, "See, there is a special supper to the Lord every year in Shiloh. It is north of Bethel, east of the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah."

The men of Benjamin did so. They took wives from those who danced, one for each man. They carried them away and returned to their land. Then they built the cities again and lived in them.

So she left with her two daughters-in-law and went on the way toward the land of Judah.

I will die where you die, and there I will be buried. So may the Lord do the same to me, and worse, if anything but death takes me from you."

So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. The whole town of Bethlehem was happy because of them. The women said, "Is this Naomi?"

So Naomi returned. And her daughter-in-law Ruth, the Moabite woman, returned with her from the land of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley gathering time.

So Ruth went and gathered in the field behind those who picked the grain. And she happened to come to the part of the field that belonged to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.