Study Desk

They turned off the road to go and spend the night there. They went into town and sat down in the city square, but no one offered to take them home for the night.

The Levite answered, "We have been in Bethlehem in Judah, and now we are on our way home deep in the hill country of Ephraim. No one will put us up for the night,

even though we have fodder and straw for our donkeys, as well as bread and wine for my concubine and me and for my servant. We have everything we need."

Her husband got up that morning, and when he opened the door to go on his way, he found his concubine lying in front of the house with her hands reaching for the door.

One tenth of the men in Israel will provide food for the army, and the others will go and punish Gibeah for this immoral act that they have committed in Israel."

And for the second time the Benjaminites came out of Gibeah, and this time they killed eighteen thousand trained Israelite soldiers.

Then for the third straight day they marched against the army of Benjamin and placed their soldiers in battle position facing Gibeah, as they had done before.

The people of Israel felt sorry for their brothers the Benjaminites and said, "Today Israel has lost one of its tribes.

What shall we do to provide wives for the men of Benjamin who are left? We have made a solemn promise to the Lord that we will not give them any of our daughters."

The people felt sorry for the Benjaminites because the Lord had broken the unity of the tribes of Israel.

So the leaders of the gathering said, "There are no more women in the tribe of Benjamin. What shall we do to provide wives for the men who are left?

Israel must not lose one of its twelve tribes. We must find a way for the tribe of Benjamin to survive,

Long ago, in the days before Israel had a king, there was a famine in the land. So a man named Elimelech, who belonged to the clan of Ephrath and who lived in Bethlehem in Judah, went with his wife Naomi and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion to live for a while in the country of Moab. While they were living there,

And may the Lord make it possible for each of you to marry again and have a home." So Naomi kissed them good-bye. But they started crying

"You must go back, my daughters," Naomi answered. "Why do you want to come with me? Do you think I could have sons again for you to marry?

Go back home, for I am too old to get married again. Even if I thought there was still hope, and so got married tonight and had sons,

would you wait until they had grown up? Would this keep you from marrying someone else? No, my daughters, you know that's impossible. The Lord has turned against me, and I feel very sorry for you."

She asked me to let her follow the workers and gather grain. She has been working since early morning and has just now stopped to rest for a while under the shelter."

Boaz answered, "I have heard about everything that you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband died. I know how you left your father and mother and your own country and how you came to live among a people you had never known before.

May the Lord reward you for what you have done. May you have a full reward from the Lord God of Israel, to whom you have come for protection!"