Bible in 90 Days

¹³ They said to him, “No, but we will tie you up and hand you over to them. However, we promise not to kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. ¹⁴ When he got to Lechi, the P’lishtim came running and shouting at him; and the Spirit of Adonai came on him powerfully. The ropes on his arms became as weak as burnt flax and fell from his arms. ¹⁵ He found a fresh donkey jawbone, took it in his hand, and with it he struck down a thousand men. ¹⁶ Shimshon said,

¹⁷ After he finished speaking he threw the jawbone away, and the place came to be called Ramat-Lechi [jawbone heights].

¹⁸ Then he felt very thirsty, so he called on Adonai, saying, “You accomplished this great rescue through your servant. But am I now to die from thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” ¹⁹ Then God made a gash in the crater at Lechi, and water came out. When he had drunk, his spirit came back; and he revived. This is why the place was called ‘Ein-HaKorei [the spring of him who called], and it is there in Lechi until now. ²⁰ He judged Isra’el in the period of the P’lishtim for twenty years.

16 Shimshon went to ‘Azah, where he saw a prostitute and went in to spend the night with her. ² The people in ‘Azah were told that Shimshon had come, so they surrounded the place where he was and also set an ambush for him all night at the city gate. Their plan was to do nothing at night, but to wait until morning and then kill him. ³ However, Shimshon stayed in bed until midnight; then he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts as well, pulled them up, bar and all, hoisted them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the hill overlooking Hevron.

⁴ After this, he fell in love with a woman who lived in the Sorek Valley, whose name was D’lilah. ⁵ The chiefs of the P’lishtim went up to her and said, “Coax him into telling you where his great strength comes from and how we can overcome him, so that we can tie him up and subdue him. If you do, each of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” ⁶ D’lilah said to Shimshon, “Please tell me what it is that makes you so strong, and how someone could tie you up and subdue you.” ⁷ Shimshon replied, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have never been dried, I will become as weak as any other man.” ⁸ The chiefs of the P’lishtim brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. ⁹ Now she had people lying in wait in the inside room. So she said to him, “Shimshon! The P’lishtim have come for you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of straw breaks when it touches fire, and the source of his strength remained unknown.

¹⁰ D’lilah said to Shimshon, “You’re making fun of me, telling me lies. Now, come on, tell me what it takes to tie you up.” ¹¹ “All it takes,” he answered, “is to tie me up with new ropes that haven’t been used. Then I’ll become weak and be like anyone else.” ¹² So D’lilah took new ropes, tied him up, and said to him, “Shimshon! The P’lishtim have come for you!” (The people lying in wait were in the inside room.) But he broke the ropes from off his arms like a thread.

¹³ D’lilah said to Shimshon, “Till now you’ve been making fun of me and telling me lies. Tell me what it takes to tie you up.” He said, “If you weave the seven locks of my hair across thread on a loom.” ¹⁴ So she fastened her cloth work in the loom with a pin and wove his hair in, then said to him, “Shimshon! The P’lishtim have come for you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled away the loom pin and the interwoven cloth. ¹⁵ She said to him, “How can you say you love me when your heart isn’t with me? Three times you’ve made fun of me, and you haven’t told me the source of your great strength.”

¹⁶ Every day she kept nagging at him and pressing at him, till it bothered him to death, ¹⁷ so that he finally told her everything. He said to her, “No razor has ever touched my head, because I have been a nazir of God since I was born. If someone shaves me, then my strength will leave me; and I will be like any other man.” ¹⁸ When D’lilah saw that he had really confided in her, she sent and summoned the chiefs of the P’lishtim with the message, “Come up this one last time, because he has finally told me the truth.” The chiefs of the P’lishtim went up to her and brought the money with them. ¹⁹ She had him go to sleep in her lap and called for a man to shave off his seven locks of hair. Then she began tormenting him, but his strength had gone away. ²⁰ She said, “Shimshon! The P’lishtim have come for you!” He awoke from his sleep and said, “I’ll get out this time, just as I shook myself loose before.” But he didn’t know that Adonai had left him. ²¹ So the P’lishtim seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to ‘Azah. There they bound him with two bronze chains and put him to work grinding grain at the mill in the prison. ²² However, after the hair on his head had been cut off, it began growing back again.

²³ The chiefs of the P’lishtim assembled to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. As they celebrated they sang,

²⁴ Upon seeing him, the people praised their god:

²⁵ When they were in high spirits they said, “Summon Shimshon to amuse us.” So they called Shimshon out of the prison, and he amused them. When they put him between the columns, ²⁶ Shimshon said to the boy holding him by the hand, “Let me feel the columns supporting the building, so that I can lean on them.” ²⁷ The building was full of men and women; and all the chiefs of the P’lishtim were there; in addition to them, there were about three thousand men and women on the roof, watching, as Shimshon performed. ²⁸ Shimshon called to Adonai, “Adonai Elohim, just this once, please, think of me, and please, give me strength, so that I can take revenge on the P’lishtim for at least one of my two eyes.” ²⁹ Shimshon got a good hold on the two middle columns supporting the building and leaned on them, on one with his right hand and on the other with his left. ³⁰ Then, crying, “Let me die with the P’lishtim!” he pushed with all his might; and the building collapsed on the chiefs and on all the people inside. So he killed more at his death than he had killed during his life.

³¹ His brothers and all his father’s family came down, took him, brought him up and buried him between Tzor‘ah and Eshta’ol, in the tomb of his father Manoach. He had judged Isra’el twenty years.

17 There was a man from the hills of Efrayim named Mikhay’hu. ² He said to his mother, “You know the 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you — you pronounced a curse about it, and you told me about it? Well, the money is with me. I took it.” His mother said, “May Adonai bless my son,” ³ as he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. Then his mother said, “I solemnly dedicate this money of mine to Adonai, in order for my son to make a carved image overlaid with silver. So now I’m giving it back to you.” ⁴ But he returned the money to his mother, and she took 200 pieces of silver and gave them to the metalworker, who made a carved image overlaid with silver which was put in Mikhay’hu’s house. ⁵ This man Mikhah owned a house of God; so he made a ritual vest and household gods and consecrated one of his sons, who became his cohen. ⁶ At that time there was no king in Isra’el; a man simply did whatever he thought was right.

⁷ There was a young man from Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah, from the family of Y’hudah, who was a Levi. He had been staying ⁸ in Beit-Lechem, but he left there to find another place to live and came to the hills of Efrayim, where eventually he made his way to the house of Mikhah. ⁹ Mikhah asked him, “Where are you coming from?” He answered, “I am a Levi from Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah, and I’m looking for a place to live.” ¹⁰ Mikhah replied, “Stay with me, and be a father and cohen for me; I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, in addition to your clothing and food.” So the Levi went in ¹¹ and agreed to stay with the man; the young man became like one of his sons. ¹² After Mikhah consecrated the Levi, the young man became his cohen and stayed there in Mikhah’s house. ¹³ Mikhah said, “Now I know that Adonai will treat me well, because I have a Levi for a cohen.

18 At that time there was no king in Isra’el, and it was also at that time that the tribe of Dan was looking for a place to claim ownership of and settle in, since they had not yet been given any land of their own among the tribes of Isra’el. ² The people of Dan sent five leading men from Tzor‘ah and Eshta’ol, representing their whole tribe, to spy out and explore the land. They instructed them, “Go, and explore the land.” They came to the hills of Efrayim, to the house of Mikhah, and stayed there. ³ While they were at Mikhah’s house they recognized the accent of the young man, the Levi, so they approached him and said, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is there for you here?” ⁴ He answered, “Here’s the arrangement Mikhah has made with me: he pays me a wage, and I serve as his cohen.” ⁵ They said to him, “Please ask God whether our journey will be successful.” ⁶ The cohen replied, “Don’t worry. Adonai is with you on this journey.”

⁷ The five men left, came to Layish and saw the people there living securely according to the customs of the Tzidonim, quietly and securely; since no one in the land was exercising authority that might shame them in any respect; moreover, they were far away from the Tzidonim and had no dealings with other peoples. ⁸ When they returned to their kinsmen in Tzor‘ah and Eshta’ol, they asked them what they had to report. ⁹ They said, “Let’s go up and attack them. We’ve seen the land, and it’s excellent. Don’t delay; start moving! Go in, and take the land! ¹⁰ When you go, you will come to a people who feel safe. There’s plenty of land, the place lacks nothing, it has everything there is on earth, and God has given it to you.”

¹¹ So from the tribe of Dan 600 men equipped for war set out from there, from Tzor‘ah and Eshta’ol. ¹² They went up and camped at Kiryat-Ye‘arim, in Y’hudah, which is why that place is called Machaneh-Dan [the camp of Dan] to this day (actually, it’s behind Kiryat-Ye‘arim). ¹³ From there they passed on into the hills of Efrayim and came to Mikhah’s house. ¹⁴ The men who had gone to spy out the land of Layish then said to their kinsmen, “Are you aware that in these buildings there is a ritual vest, household gods and a carved image overlaid with silver? Decide what you ought to do.” ¹⁵ They turned off the road and went to the house of the young Levi, that is, to Mikhah’s house, and asked how he was doing. ¹⁶ The 600 soldiers from Dan stayed at the gate, ¹⁷ while the five who had spied out the land went in and took the idol overlaid with silver, the vest and the household gods. The cohen had stayed with the 600 soldiers by the gate. ¹⁸ But when they went into Mikhah’s house and took the silver-covered image, the vest and the household gods, the cohen asked them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹ They replied, “Be quiet, keep your mouth shut, and come with us. Be a father and a cohen for us. Which is better? To be a cohen in the house of one man or to be cohen to a whole tribe and family in Isra’el?” ²⁰ This made the cohen feel very good; so he took the ritual vest, the household gods and the image and went off with the people. ²¹ So they turned and left, with their children, cattle and belongings going ahead of them.

²² When they were a good distance from Mikhah’s house, the men who lived in the houses near his got together [with him], overtook the people from Dan ²³ and began shouting at them. The people from Dan turned and said to Mikhah, “What’s wrong with you, that you’ve gathered such a crowd?” ²⁴ He answered, “You’ve taken away my god, which I made, and gone off with the cohen! What more have I got? How can you ask me, ‘What’s wrong with you?’” ²⁵ The men from Dan replied, “You had best say no more to us, because some of us might get angry and attack you. You could lose your life, and so might the others in your household.” ²⁶ Then the people from Dan went their way; and when Mikhah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house. ²⁷ So they took what Mikhah had made and his cohen.

They came to Layish, to a quiet and trusting people. They attacked, killed them and burned down the city. ²⁸ No one came to rescue them, because it was far from Tzidon, and they had no dealings with other peoples. This was in the valley near Beit-Rechov.

Then the people of Dan rebuilt the city and settled there. ²⁹ They named the city Dan, after Dan their ancestor, who was born to Isra’el; although the city had previously been called Layish. ³⁰ The people of Dan set up the image for themselves. Y’honatan the son of Gershom, the son of M’nasheh, and his sons were cohanim for the tribe of the people of Dan until the day of the exile from the land. ³¹ Thus they erected for themselves Mikhah’s idol which he had made, and it remained there as long as the house of God was in Shiloh.

19 In those days, when there was no king in Isra’el, there was a certain Levi living on the far side of the Efrayim hills who took a woman from Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah to be his concubine. ² But his concubine was unfaithful to him and left him to go to her father’s house at Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah, where she stayed for some time, four months. ³ Then her husband went after her to persuade her to return; he had his servant with him and a pair of donkeys. She brought him into her father’s house; and when the girl’s father saw him, he was glad to meet him. ⁴ His father-in-law, the girl’s father, kept him there; so he remained with him three days; they ate, drank and stayed there. ⁵ On the fourth day they got up early in the morning, and he prepared to leave. But the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “You’ll feel better if you have a bite of food before you leave.” ⁶ So the two of them sat down and ate and drank together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please stay one more night, and have a good time.” ⁷ The man rose to leave, but his father-in-law pressed him, so he stayed there again. ⁸ The morning of the fifth day, he got up early to leave; but the girl’s father said, “Why don’t you have something to eat, and leave this afternoon?” So the two men ate. ⁹ When the man got up to leave with his concubine and servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, it’s almost evening. Please stay the night — you see that it’s getting late. Stay on, enjoy yourself, and tomorrow get going early on your way home.” ¹⁰ But the man wouldn’t stay that night; so he got up and left with his concubine and his two saddled donkeys; and they arrived at Y’vus, also known as Yerushalayim.

¹¹ By the time they arrived at Y’vus it was nearly evening; and the servant said to his master, “Why don’t we go on into this city of the Y’vusi and stay there?” ¹² But his master said to him, “We won’t go into a city of foreigners which doesn’t belong to the people of Isra’el. We’ll go on across to Giv‘ah.” ¹³ He said to his servant, “Let’s go, and we’ll get to one of those places; we’ll stay in Giv‘ah or Ramah.” ¹⁴ So they went on and kept traveling, until the sun set on them near Giv‘ah, which belongs to Binyamin. ¹⁵ There they turned off the road to go and stay in Giv‘ah. He went in and sat down in the city’s open space, since no one had offered his home for them to spend the night.

¹⁶ In time, at nightfall, an old man came from his work in the field. He was from the Efrayim hills and was staying in Giv‘ah, although the residents were of Binyamin. ¹⁷ The old man looked up, saw the traveler in the city’s open space and said, “Where are you going, and where are you coming from?” ¹⁸ He replied, “We’re crossing from Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah to the far side of the Efrayim hills. That’s where I’m from. I went to Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah, and now I’m going to the house of Adonai; but there’s no one here who will let me spend the night in his home. ¹⁹ We have straw and food for our donkeys, also bread and wine for me, my concubine and the boy there with your servants; we don’t need anything else.” ²⁰ The old man said, “You’re welcome to stay with me. I’ll take care of anything you lack; just don’t spend the night out in the open.” ²¹ So he brought him home and gave food to the donkeys. Then they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

²² They were relaxing, when suddenly some men from the city, good-for-nothings, surrounded the house and began beating at the door. “Send out the man who came home with you!” they demanded of the old man whose house it was. “We want to have sex with him!” ²³ The man whose house it was went out and said to them, “No, my brothers, please don’t do anything as wrong as this. Look, he’s just a guest in my house; don’t do this degrading thing. ²⁴ Here’s my daughter, who’s a virgin, and his concubine. I’ll bring them out. Mistreat them, do what you want to them, but don’t do such a degrading thing to this man.” ²⁵ However, the men wouldn’t listen to him; so the man took hold of his concubine and brought her out to them. They raped her and abused her all night long; only at dawn did they let her go. ²⁶ At daybreak the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her husband was, and she was still there when it grew light. ²⁷ When her husband got up, opened the doors of the house, and went out to go on his way, he saw the woman lying there with her hands stretched out toward the door. ²⁸ He said to her, “Get up! Let’s go!” But there was no answer. So he loaded her body on the donkey and began his trip home. ²⁹ On arrival at his house, he got a knife, took hold of his concubine’s body, cut her up into twelve pieces, and sent them to all the regions of Isra’el. ³⁰ Everyone who saw it said, “From the day the people of Isra’el came up from Egypt until now, never has such a thing happened or been seen. What are we going to do about it? Talk it over and decide.”

20 All the people of Isra’el came out, from Dan to Be’er-sheva, including Gil‘ad; the community assembled with one accord before Adonai at Mitzpah. ² The leaders of all the tribes of Isra’el presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 foot soldiers armed with swords. ³ Now the people of Binyamin heard that the people of Isra’el had gone up to Mitzpah. The people of Isra’el said, “Tell us, how was this crime committed?” ⁴ The Levi, the husband of the murdered woman, answered, “I came to Giv‘ah, which belongs to Binyamin, I and my concubine, to stay the night; ⁵ and the men in Giv‘ah attacked me and surrounded the house I was staying in at night. They wanted to kill me, but instead they raped my concubine to death. ⁶ I took my concubine’s body, cut it into pieces and sent them throughout all the territories belonging to Isra’el ; because they committed a shockingly obscene and degrading crime in Isra’el. ⁷ Look, you are all people of Isra’el. So discuss what to do, and give your advice here and now.”

⁸ All the people stood up in agreement and said, “None of us will go home to his tent or his house. ⁹ What we will do now to Giv‘ah is this: we’ll draw lots, ¹⁰ we’ll take ten men out of each hundred throughout all the tribes of Isra’el, and a hundred out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand to collect food for the others. When these come to Giv‘ah in Binyamin, they will avenge the crime that was committed.” ¹¹ Thus all the men of Isra’el, joined together in complete agreement, assembled to attack the city.

¹² The tribes of Isra’el sent men throughout all the tribe of Binyamin with this message: “What is this crime committed by some of your people? ¹³ Turn over these good-for-nothings who are in Giv‘ah at once, so that we can execute them and rid Isra’el of such evil.” But the people of Binyamin refused to obey the order of their kinsmen the people of Isra’el. ¹⁴ Instead the people of Binyamin gathered themselves together from their cities and went to Giv‘ah to fight the people of Isra’el. ¹⁵ On that day there were 26,000 men from Binyamin armed with swords, besides the inhabitants of Giv‘ah, who numbered 700 specially chosen men. ¹⁶ All of these 700 specially picked men were left-handed, and every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

¹⁷ The army of Isra’el, apart from Binyamin, numbered 400,000 men with swords; they were all experienced soldiers. ¹⁸ The army of Isra’el began by going up to Beit-El, where they asked God, “Who should go up first to attack the army of Binyamin?” Adonai said, “Y’hudah first.” ¹⁹ So the army of Isra’el got up in the morning and set up their camp near Giv‘ah. ²⁰ Then the army of Isra’el went out to attack Binyamin and set up their battle line in front of Giv‘ah. ²¹ But the army of Binyamin came out of Giv‘ah and slaughtered the army of Isra’el; on that day 22,000 men fell. ²² The people, the men of Isra’el, restored their morale and again positioned themselves for battle where they had been the first day. ²³ Then the army of Isra’el went up and cried before Adonai until evening. They asked Adonai, “Should we attack our kinsmen the people of Binyamin again? Adonai answered, “Attack them.”

²⁴ So the army of Isra’el went out to attack the army of Binyamin the second day. ²⁵ But Binyamin went out against them from Giv‘ah the second day and slaughtered the army of Isra’el; 18,000 men armed with swords fell. ²⁶ Then the whole army of Isra’el, all the people, went up to Beit-El and cried and sat there in the presence of Adonai. They fasted that day until evening, offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to Adonai, ²⁷ and asked Adonai what to do. The ark for the covenant of God was there at that time; ²⁸ and Pinchas the son of El‘azar, the son of Aharon, stood before it at that time. They asked, “Should we still go out to battle again against our kinsmen the people of Binyamin, or should we stop?” Adonai answered, “Attack, because tomorrow I will hand them over to you.”

²⁹ Isra’el hid some men around Giv‘ah, ³⁰ and on the third day Isra’el attacked the army of Binyamin and took a position against Giv‘ah as they had the other times. ³¹ Again the army of Binyamin went out against the people. Lured away from the city, they began attacking and killing some of the people, as they had the other times — they killed about thirty men of Isra’el in the countryside and on the roads, one of which goes up to Beit-El and the other to Giv‘ah. ³² The army of Binyamin said, “They’re defeated, just as before.” But the army of Isra’el said, “Let’s run off and draw them away from the city onto the roads.” ³³ All the men of Isra’el left their places and took up a battle position at Ba‘al-Tamar, while the other Isra’el men burst out of their hiding places at Ma‘areh-Geva. ³⁴ Ten thousand men chosen out of all Isra’el came over to attack Giv‘ah, and the combat was intense. But the army of Binyamin didn’t know that they were about to be defeated. ³⁵ For Adonai routed Binyamin in Isra’el’s presence; that day the army of Isra’el destroyed 25,100 men of Binyamin, all of whom carried swords; ³⁶ and the people of Binyamin realized that they had been beaten.

The men of Isra’el, trusting the ones they had put in place to ambush Binyamin, gave ground to the men of Binyamin. ³⁷ Then the men who had been lying in wait rushed in on Giv‘ah, drew their swords and destroyed the city. ³⁸ The army of Isra’el and the ambushers had agreed that as a signal they would make a huge cloud of smoke rise from the city, ³⁹ at which time the men of Isra’el would turn back. When this happened, Binyamin began to attack. They killed about thirty of Isra’el’s men and said, “Clearly we’re defeating them again, as in the first battle.” ⁴⁰ But when the smoke signal began rising from the city, the men of Binyamin looked behind them and saw the whole city going up to the sky in smoke. ⁴¹ Then, as the men of Isra’el reversed direction, those of Binyamin were overcome with terror. When they saw that disaster had come upon them, ⁴² they turned their backs on the men of Isra’el and made for the road to the desert. But the battle followed them, and those who came out of the city destroyed them from the rear. ⁴³ They surrounded the men of Binyamin, chased them and trampled them down across from Giv‘ah on the east. ⁴⁴ Eighteen thousand men of Binyamin fell, all of them experienced soldiers. ⁴⁵ They turned and fled toward the desert to the Rock of Rimmon; and 5,000 of them were killed on the roads. They followed them to Gid‘om and killed another 2,000. ⁴⁶ Thus the total number from Binyamin who fell that day was 25,000 experienced, sword-bearing soldiers. ⁴⁷ But 600 turned and fled toward the desert to the Rock of Rimmon, and lived there four months. ⁴⁸ The men of Isra’el turned back on the people of Binyamin and killed them with the sword, the entire city, the cattle and everything they found. Moreover, they set on fire all the cities they encountered.

21 The men of Isra’el had sworn in Mitzpah that none of them would let his daughter marry a man from Binyamin. ² The people came to Beit-El and stayed there before God till evening crying out and weeping. ³ They said: “Adonai, why has this come about in Isra’el? Why should there be today in Isra’el one tribe missing?” ⁴ The next day the people got up early, built an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ⁵ The people of Isra’el asked, “Who among the tribes of Isra’el did not come up to assemble before Adonai? For they had made a great oath to put to death whoever didn’t come up to Adonai at Mitzpah. ⁶ The people of Isra’el became sorry for Binyamin their brother and said, “Today one tribe has been cut off from Isra’el. ⁷ How are we going to obtain wives for those who remain alive, since we’ve sworn by Adonai that we won’t let our daughters marry them?”

⁸ Then they asked who from the tribes of Isra’el had not come up to Adonai at Mitzpah and found that none had come from Yavesh-Gil‘ad to the camp where the assembly was; ⁹ since when the people were counted, none of the inhabitants of Yavesh-Gil‘ad were found there. ¹⁰ So the gathering sent 12,000 warriors there and ordered them, “Go, and put the people who live in Yavesh-Gil‘ad to death with the sword, including women and children. ¹¹ Completely destroy every man and every woman who has had sex with a man.” ¹² Among the inhabitants of Yavesh-Gil‘ad they found 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Kena‘an.

¹³ Then the whole gathering sent a message proclaiming peace to the people of Binyamin who were at the Rock of Rimmon. ¹⁴ So Binyamin returned at that time, and the people of Isra’el gave them the women they had kept alive of the women from Yavesh-Gil‘ad. But those weren’t enough for them. ¹⁵ The people were still sorry for Binyamin because Adonai had made a division among the tribes of Isra’el.

¹⁶ The leaders of the assembly asked, “What are we to do for those who still don’t have wives, inasmuch as all the women of Binyamin have been killed?” ¹⁷ They said, “There has to be a way to help the survivors preserve Binyamin’s inheritance, so that a tribe will not be eliminated from Isra’el. ¹⁸ Yet we can’t give them our daughters as wives.” For the people of Isra’el had sworn, “Cursed be whoever gives a wife to Binyamin.”

¹⁹ Then they said, “Look, each year there’s a festival in honor of Adonai in Shiloh, north of Beit-El, on the east side of the road that goes up from Beit-El to Sh’khem, and south of Levonah.” ²⁰ They ordered the men of Binyamin, “Go, hide in the vineyards, ²¹ and keep watch. If the girls of Shiloh come out to do their dances, then come out of the vineyards, and each of you catch for himself a wife from the Shiloh girls, and go on to the land of Binyamin. ²² When their fathers or brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Give them as a personal favor to us, because we didn’t take wives for each of them in battle. You didn’t give them to them; that would have made you guilty of breaking your oath.’” ²³ So the men of Binyamin did this — they took wives for themselves from the girls who were dancing, as many as they needed. They carried them off, went back to the land of their inheritance, rebuilt the cities and lived in them. ²⁴ The people of Isra’el then left that place, each man returned to his tribe and family, and each man went out from there to the land he had inherited.

²⁵ At that time there was no king in Isra’el; a man simply did whatever he thought was right.

1 There was a man from Ramatayim-Tzofim, in the hills of Efrayim, whose name was Elkanah the son of Yerocham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tochu, the son of Tzuf, from Efrat. ² He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other P’ninah. P’ninah had children, but Hannah had no children. ³ This man went up from his city every year to worship and sacrifice to Adonai-Tzva’ot in Shiloh. The two sons of ‘Eli, Hofni and Pinchas, were cohanim of Adonai there.

⁴ One day, when Elkanah was sacrificing, he gave a portion of the sacrifice to his wife P’ninah and portions to each of her sons and daughters; ⁵ but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved Hannah, even though Adonai had kept her from having children. ⁶ Her rival taunted her and made her feel bad, because Adonai had kept her from having children. ⁷ He did the same every year; and each time she went up to the house of Adonai, she taunted her so much that she would cry and not eat. ⁸ Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why are you crying, and why aren’t you eating? Why be so sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” ⁹ So Hannah got up after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. ‘Eli the cohen was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of the temple of Adonai. ¹⁰ In deep depression she prayed to Adonai and cried. ¹¹ Then she took a vow; she said, “Adonai-Tzva’ot, if you will notice how humiliated your servant is, if you will remember me and not forget your servant but will give your servant a male child, then I will give him to Adonai for as long as he lives; and no razor will ever come on his head.” ¹² She prayed for a long time before Adonai; and as she did so, ‘Eli was watching her mouth. ¹³ Hannah was speaking in her heart — her lips moved, but her voice could not be heard — so ‘Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴ ‘Eli said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Stop drinking your wine!” ¹⁵ But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a very unhappy woman. I have not drunk either wine or other strong liquor; rather, I’ve been pouring out my soul before Adonai. ¹⁶ Don’t think of your servant as a worthless woman; because I have been speaking from the depth of my distress and anger.” ¹⁷ Then ‘Eli replied, “Go in peace. May the God of Isra’el grant what you have asked of him.” ¹⁸ She replied, “May your servant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went on her way, and she ate, and her face was no longer sad. ¹⁹ They got up early in the morning and worshipped before Adonai, then returned and came to their house in Ramah.

Elkanah had sexual relations with Hannah his wife, and Adonai remembered her. ²⁰ She conceived; and in due time she gave birth to a son, whom she named Sh’mu’el, “because I asked Adonai for him.”

²¹ The husband, Elkanah, went up with all his household to offer the yearly sacrifice to Adonai and fulfill his vow. ²² But Hannah did not go up, explaining to her husband, “Not till the child has been weaned. Then I will bring him, so that he can appear before Adonai and live there forever.” ²³ Her husband Elkanah answered her, “Do what seems good to you; stay here until you have weaned him. Only may Adonai bring about what he said.” So the woman stayed behind and nursed the child, until she weaned him. ²⁴ After weaning him, she took him up with her, along with three young bulls, a bushel of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of Adonai in Shiloh, even though he was just a child. ²⁵ After the bull had been slaughtered, the child was brought to ‘Eli; ²⁶ and she said, “My lord, as sure as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here near you, praying to Adonai. ²⁷ I prayed for this child, and Adonai has granted the request I asked of him. ²⁸ Therefore, I too have loaned him to Adonai — as long as he lives, he is on loan to Adonai.” And he prostrated himself there before Adonai.

¹¹ Elkanah went home to Ramah, while the child began ministering to Adonai under the direction of ‘Eli the cohen.

¹² ‘Eli’s sons were scoundrels who had no regard for Adonai. ¹³ The rule these cohanim followed in dealing with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the cohen’s servant would come, while the meat was stewing, with a three-pronged fork in his hand. ¹⁴ He would stick it in the pan, kettle, caldron or pot; and the cohen would take for himself whatever the fork brought up. This is how they dealt with all the people of Isra’el who came there to Shiloh. ¹⁵ The cohen’s servant would actually come before the fat had burned to smoke and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the cohen meat he can roast; because he doesn’t want your meat stewed, but raw.” ¹⁶ If the man answered, “First let the fat burn to smoke, then take as much as you want,” he would say, “No, give it to me now, or I’ll take it by force.” ¹⁷ The sin of these young men was very serious in Adonai’s view, because they treated offerings made to Adonai with contempt.

¹⁸ But Sh’mu’el ministered in the presence of Adonai, wearing a linen ritual vest even though he was only a child. ¹⁹ Each year his mother would make him a little coat and bring it when she came up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. ²⁰ ‘Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May Adonai give you children from this woman because of the boy you have loaned to Adonai”; then they would go home. ²¹ So Adonai took notice of Hannah, and she conceived and bore three more sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Sh’mu’el grew in the presence of Adonai.

²² When ‘Eli was very old, he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Isra’el, and that they were having sex with the women doing service at the door of the tent of meeting. ²³ He asked them, “Why are you doing things like this? I am hearing bad reports about you from all these people. ²⁴ No, my sons, I don’t hear Adonai’s people spreading a single good report! ²⁵ If a person commits a sin against another person, the judges can mediate between them. But if a person commits a sin against Adonai, who can intercede for him?” However, they wouldn’t pay attention to what their father said, because Adonai had decided to kill them.

²⁶ The child Sh’mu’el kept growing and gaining favor both with Adonai and with people.

²⁷ A man of God came to ‘Eli and told him, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘Didn’t I reveal myself to your ancestor’s clan when they were in Egypt, serving as slaves in Pharaoh’s household? ²⁸ Didn’t I choose him out of all the tribes of Isra’el to be my cohen, go up to my altar, burn incense and wear a ritual vest in my presence? Didn’t I assign to your ancestor’s clan all the offerings of the people of Isra’el made by fire? ²⁹ So why are you showing such disrespect for my sacrifices and offerings, which I ordered to be made at my dwelling? Why do you show more honor to your sons than to me, making yourselves fat with the choicest parts of all the offerings of Isra’el my people?’