Study Desk

On the fifth day the man got up early in the morning to leave. The woman's father said, "Refresh yourself. Wait until this afternoon." So the two men ate together.

But the Levite did not want to stay another night. So he took his two saddled donkeys and his slave woman and traveled toward the city of Jebus (also called Jerusalem).

As the day was almost over, they came near Jebus. So the servant said to his master, "Let's stop at this city of the Jebusites, and spend the night here."

He said, "Come on. Let's try to make it to Gibeah or Ramah so we can spend the night in one of those cities."

So they went on. The sun went down as they came near Gibeah, which belongs to the tribe of Benjamin.

So the old man took the Levite into his house, and he fed their donkeys. They washed their feet and had something to eat and drink.

The owner of the house went outside and said to them, "No, my friends. Don't be so evil. This man is a guest in my house. Don't do this terrible thing!

But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his slave woman and sent her outside to them. They forced her to have sexual relations with them, and they abused her all night long. Then, at dawn, they let her go.

The Levite said to her, "Get up; let's go." But she did not answer. So he put her on his donkey and went home.

So all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, joined together before the Lord in the city of Mizpah.

So the husband of the murdered woman answered, "My slave woman and I came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night.

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

Hand over the wicked men in Gibeah so that we can put them to death. We must remove this evil from Israel." But the Benjaminites would not listen to their fellow Israelites.

The Israelites went before the Lord and cried until evening. They asked the Lord , "Shall we go to fight our relatives, the Benjaminites, again?" The Lord answered, "Go up and fight them." The men of Israel encouraged each other. So they took the same battle positions they had taken the first day.

So the Benjaminites ran away from the Israelites toward the desert, but they could not escape the battle. And the Israelites who came out of the cities killed them.

So 18,000 brave Benjaminite fighters were killed.

They said, " Lord , God of Israel, why has this terrible thing happened to us so that one tribe of Israel is missing today?"

So the whole group of Israelites sent twelve thousand soldiers to Jabesh Gilead to kill the people with their swords, even the women and children.

The soldiers found four hundred young unmarried women in Jabesh Gilead, so they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.

So the men of Benjamin came back at that time. The Israelites gave them the women from Jabesh Gilead who had not been killed, but there were not enough women.