Study Desk

So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, "My concubine and I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night.

And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died.

So I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they committed lewdness and outrage in Israel.

So all the people arose as one man, saying, "None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house;

So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man.

So the children of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.

So the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second day.

So the children of Israel inquired of the LORD (the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

So the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city. They began to strike down and kill some of the people, as at the other times, in the highways (one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah) and in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

So all the men of Israel rose from their place and put themselves in battle array at Baal Tamar. Then Israel's men in ambush burst forth from their position in the plain of Geba.

So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. The men of Israel had given ground to the Benjamites, because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah.

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

So it was, on the next morning, that the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

So the congregation sent out there twelve thousand of their most valiant men, and commanded them, saying, "Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and children.

So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known a man intimately; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

So Benjamin came back at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead; and yet they had not found enough for them.

And the children of Benjamin did so; they took enough wives for their number from those who danced, whom they caught. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, and they rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them.

So the children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family; they went out from there, every man to his inheritance.

Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.

The LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband." So she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.