Study Desk

Then the Levite, his slave woman, and his servant got up to leave. But the young woman's father said, "It is almost dark. The day is almost gone. So stay the night here and enjoy yourself. Tomorrow morning you can get up early and go on your way."

The day was almost over. They were near the city of Jebus. So the servant said to his master, the Levite, "Let's stop at this Jebusite city. Let's stay the night here."

So the Levite and those with him traveled on. The sun was going down just as they entered the city of Gibeah. Gibeah is in the area that belongs to the tribe of Benjamin.

But those evil men would not listen to the old man. So the Levite took his slave woman and put her outside with them. They hurt her and raped her all night long. Then, at dawn, they let her go.

So all the Israelites joined together. They all came together to stand before the Lord in the city of Mizpah. People came from everywhere in Israel. Even the Israelites from Gilead were there.

So the Levite, the husband of the woman who had been murdered, told them the story. He said, "My slave woman and I came to the city of Gibeah in the area of Benjamin. We spent the night there.

So I took her and cut her into pieces. Then I sent one piece to each of the tribes of Israel. I sent the 12 pieces to the lands we have received. I did that because the people of Benjamin have done this terrible thing in Israel.

So all the men of Israel gathered together at the city of Gibeah, united together and in agreement as to what they were doing.

Send the bad men from the city of Gibeah to us so that we can put them to death. We must remove the evil from among the Israelites." But the people from the tribe of Benjamin would not listen to the messengers from their relatives, the other Israelites.

The Israelites went to the Lord and cried until evening. They asked the Lord , "Should we go to fight the people of Benjamin again? They are our relatives." The Lord answered, "Go fight against them." The men of Israel encouraged each other. So they again went out to fight, as they had done the first day.

So all the men ran away. They stopped at a place named Baal Tamar. Some of the men of Israel were hiding west of Gibeah. They ran from their hiding places.

So the people of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. The army of Israel had moved back because they were depending on the surprise attack. They had men hiding near Gibeah.

The army of Benjamin had killed about 30 Israelite soldiers. So the men of Benjamin were saying, "We are winning, as before." But then a big cloud of smoke began to rise from the city. The men of Benjamin turned around and saw the smoke. The whole city was on fire. Then the army of Israel stopped running away. They turned around and began to fight. The men of Benjamin were afraid because they knew that a terrible thing had happened to them.

So the army of Benjamin ran away from the army of Israel. They ran toward the desert. But they could not escape the fighting. And the men of Israel came out of the cities and killed them.

So 18,000 brave and strong fighters from the army of Benjamin were killed.

So the Israelites sent 12,000 soldiers to the city of Jabesh Gilead. They told the soldiers, "Go to Jabesh Gilead, and use your swords to kill everyone who lives there, even the women and children.

You must do this! You must kill every man in Jabesh Gilead and every woman who has had sexual relations with a man. But do not kill any woman who has never had sex with a man." So the soldiers did these things.

So the men of Benjamin came back to Israel. The Israelites gave them the women from Jabesh Gilead who they had not killed. But there were not enough women for all the men of Benjamin.

The men of Benjamin who are still alive must have children to continue their families. This must be done so that a tribe in Israel will not die out!

So the elders told the men of Benjamin about their idea. They said, "Go and hide in the vineyards.