Bible in 90 Days

¹³ They said, “No, but we will tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him away from the rock.

¹⁴ As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. The ropes that were around his arms became like charred flax, and the binding fell off of his hands.

¹⁵ He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and he reached out and took it in his hand. He then killed one thousand men with it. ¹⁶ Samson said,

¹⁷ When he finished speaking, he dropped the jawbone from out of his hand. The name of that place is Ramath-lehi.

¹⁸ Now he was very thirsty, so he called out to the Lord, “You have given this great victory through the hand of your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”^{[a] 19} God split open a hollow place in Lehi, and water came out. When he drank it, his strength returned and his spirit was revived. The spring is called En-hakkore, and it is still in Lehi today. ²⁰ Samson was a judge over Israel for forty years during the days of the Philistines.

Chapter 16

Samson at Gaza. ¹ One day Samson went to Gaza. He saw a prostitute there, and he had sex with her. ² The people in Gaza were told, “Samson is here.” They surrounded the place where he was staying, and they lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night, saying, “In the morning we will kill him.” ³ Samson lay there until midnight, and then at midnight he got up and took hold of the city gates with its two posts. He lifted up the gates, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

Samson and Delilah. ⁴ Sometime later he fell in love with a woman who lived in the Valley of Sorek. Her name was Delilah. ⁵ The lords of the Philistines visited her and said, “Entice him and see if you can find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him and tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

⁶ Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you could be tied up and subdued.” ⁷ Samson answered her, “If anyone were to tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have never been dried, then I would become as weak as everyone else.” ⁸ The lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. ⁹ There were some men hiding in the room when she cried out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you.” He broke the thongs like a piece of string that snaps when it is close to a flame. Thus, the secret of his strength was not known.

¹⁰ Delilah then said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me. Please, tell me now how you could be tied up.” ¹¹ He answered, “If anyone were to bind me with new ropes that had never been used, then I would become as weak as everyone else.” ¹² So Delilah took new ropes and she bound him and cried out, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you,” as the men were hiding in the room. He broke them off of his arms as if they were made of thread.

¹³ Delilah then said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and lied to me. Tell me, now, how you could be tied up.” He answered, “If you were to weave the seven locks on my head into the loom, ¹⁴ and fastened it with a pin, then I should become weak, and be like any other man.” Again she cried out, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you.” He woke up from his sleep and pulled away from the pin, the loom, and the web.

¹⁵ She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you hold back your love from me. You have mocked me these three times; you have not told me where your strength lies.” ¹⁶ She wore him out by talking to him day after day, and nagging him, until he was tired to death, ¹⁷ so he told her everything. He said to her, “No razor has ever touched my head because I have been a Nazirite of God from my mother’s womb. If I were to be shaved, then my strength would disappear and I would become as weak as any other man.”

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she summoned the lords of the Philistines saying, “Come back one more time, for he has told me everything.” The lords of the Philistines came to her, the money in their hands. ¹⁹ She had him fall asleep upon her knees, and she summoned a man to shave off the seven locks on his head. Thus, she began to subdue him, and his strength left him. ²⁰ She cried out, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you.” He woke up from his sleep and said, “I will go out like the previous times and shake myself free.” He did not know that the Lord had left him.^[b]

²¹ The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They took him down to Gaza and bound him in bronze shackles, setting him to grind grain in prison.

²² Samson’s Revenge and Death. The hair on his head began to grow back after it had been shaved off. ²³ The lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon.^[c] They celebrated and said, “Our god has delivered us from the hands of Samson, our enemy.” ²⁴ When the people saw him, they praised their god saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste to our country and killed so many of us.” ²⁵ While they were in high spirits, they cried out, “Call out Samson so that he can entertain us.” They summoned Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They set him between the pillars. ²⁶ Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the temple is set so I can lean against them.” ²⁷ The temple was packed with men and women, and all of the lords of the Philistines were there as well. There were also about three thousand men and women upon the roof, watching while Samson was amusing them.

²⁸ Samson called out to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please remember me. I beg you, please strengthen me^[d] this one more time so that I might take vengeance upon the Philistines for my two eyes.”

²⁹ Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the temple was set. He braced himself against them, one with his right hand and one with his left hand. ³⁰ Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He pushed with all his might, and the house came crashing down upon the lords and upon all of the people. Thus, he killed more people with his death than he had killed during his life. ³¹ His brothers and all of his father’s household went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He was a judge over Israel for twenty years.

Appendices: Stories of Dan and Benjamin^[e]

Chapter 17

Micah and the Levite. ¹ There was a man named Micah in the hill country of Ephraim. ² He said to his mother, “I have those eleven hundred pieces of silver that were stolen from you and over which you uttered a curse. I took them.” His mother said, “May the Lord bless you, my son.” ³ He returned the eleven hundred silver pieces to his mother. His mother said, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to produce a molten image. I will give it back to you.”

⁴ When he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith, who made a molten image and a carved idol. They were placed in the house of Micah. ⁵ This Micah had a temple, and he made an ephod and a teraphim. He consecrated one of his sons as his priest. ⁶ In those days Israel had no king,^[f] and everyone did what in his own opinion he thought to be right.

⁷ There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah. He was living among the clan of Judah.^{[g] 8} The man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to seek another place to live. On his way he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah. ⁹ Micah asked him, “Where do you come from?” He answered, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am seeking a place to live.” ¹⁰ Micah said to him, “Live with me; you can be like a father and a priest to me. I will give you ten silver pieces a year along with your clothes and your food.” So the Levite went in.

¹¹ The Levite was pleased to live with the man. It was as if the young man were one of his sons. ¹² Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became Micah’s priest, and he lived in his house. ¹³ Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, for the Levite has become my priest.”^[h]

Chapter 18

The Danites Overtake Micah. ¹ At that time, there was no king in Israel. In those days the tribe of the Danites were seeking a place^[i] where they could dwell, because up to that time they had not yet come into their inheritance among the tribes of Israel. ² The Danites sent out five men, one from each of its clans, brave warriors. They went out from Zorah and Eshtaol to investigate the land and to explore it. They said to them, “Go and explore the land.”

They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and they stayed there. ³ As they drew near the house of Micah, they heard the voice of the young Levite, so they turned in there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?” ⁴ He told them what Micah had done for him and said, “He hired me, and I am his priest.” ⁵ Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God whether our journey will be successful.” ⁶ He replied, “Go in peace. The Lord is with you on your journey.”

⁷ The five men left and came to Laish. They saw that the people there were living in safety, just like the Sidonians lived, quiet and secure. There were no rulers in the land who could shame them in anything. They were quite far away from the Sidonians, and they had no ties to anyone.

⁸ They came back to their brethren in Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brethren said to them, “What do you have to say?” ⁹ They said, “Arise so that we can attack them. We have seen the land, and it is truly very good. Do not delay in going there so that you can enter and take possession of the land. ¹⁰ When you enter, you will find a people living in security in a vast land. God has given it into your hands. It is a place where you will not lack anything upon the earth.”

¹¹ Six hundred men from the clans of the Danites went out from Zorah and Eshtaol dressed in battle gear. ¹² They went up and camped in Kiriath-jearim in Judah. (This is why this place is called Mahaneh-dan up to this day. It lies to the west of Kiriath-jearim.) ¹³ They went on from there to the hill country of Ephraim, coming to the house of Micah.

¹⁴ The five men who had gone out to investigate the land around Laish said to their brethren, “Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, teraphim, and a carved molten image? What do you think we should do?” ¹⁵ They turned aside and went to the house of the young Levite (the house of Micah) and they greeted him. ¹⁶ The six hundred armed men, the Danites, stood by the entrance to the gate.

¹⁷ The five men who had gone out to investigate the land then arrived there. They took the carved image, the ephod, the teraphim and the molten image. The priest stood at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred men who were armed for war. ¹⁸ When they went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the teraphim and the molten image, the priest asked them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹ They said to him, “Be quiet! Put your hand over your mouth, and come with us to be a father and a priest to us. Is it better to be a father and a priest to one man’s household, or to be father and priest to a tribe and a clan in Israel?” ²⁰ This pleased the priest. He took the ephod, the teraphim, and the carved image and traveled with those people. ²¹ They then turned and departed, with their children, their cattle, and their possessions in the front of the march.

²² When they had traveled some distance from the house of Micah, the men who lived in the houses near Micah’s house overtook the Danites. ²³ When they shouted out, the Danites turned and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, calling out such a group?” ^24 [j]He replied, “You took the gods that I made and the priest, and then you went on your way. What else do I have? How could you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’ ” ²⁵ The Danites said to him, “Keep quiet, or these men could get angry, and you and your household could lose their lives.” ²⁶ So the Danites continued on their journey. When Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned back and went home.

²⁷ They took away the things that Micah had made and his priest, and they arrived in Laish. This land was quiet, with people who lived in security, and they put them to the sword and burned the city down. ²⁸ There was no one to deliver them, for Sidon was far away and they had no allies. This happened in the valley near Beth-rehob. They built a city and dwelt there. ²⁹ They named the city Dan after their forefather who was called Dan. He was the son of Israel. The city had originally been called Laish. ³⁰ The Danites set up the carved idol, and they chose Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons as priests to the Danites, and they continued to serve until they were exiled from the land.^{[k] 31} They maintained the carved idol that Micah had made, and it remained there the whole time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

Chapter 19

The Levite’s Concubine.^{[l] 1} In those days there was no king in Israel, and there was a certain Levite who lived on the far side of the hill country of Ephraim who took a concubine from Bethlehem of Judah. ² His concubine cheated on him and she returned to her father’s house in Bethlehem. She had been there for four months ³ when her husband rose up to go to her in order to convince her to return to him. He took along his servant and two donkeys.

She invited him into her father’s house, and when her father saw him, he was pleased to meet him. ⁴ His father-in-law, the young woman’s father, urged him to stay with him. He stayed with him for three days, eating and drinking and sleeping there. ⁵ On the fourth day they rose early in the morning and were leaving. The woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Fortify yourself with something to eat, and then you can go on your way.” ⁶ Both of them sat down and they ate and drank together, and then the young woman’s father said to the man, “Please, stay the night and enjoy yourself.” ⁷ When the man rose up to go, his father-in-law urged him to stay, so he slept there. ⁸ Early on the morning of the fifth day, the young woman’s father said, “Fortify yourself, wait until the afternoon.” So the both of them ate together.

⁹ When the man got up to depart along with the concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said to him, “Look, it is almost evening, stay the night because the day is almost over. Stay here and enjoy yourselves. You can get up early tomorrow morning and be on your way home.” ¹⁰ But the man would not stay the night. He got up and left and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem) along with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.

¹¹ It was already late in the day when they were passing by Jebus, so the servant said to his master, “Come, let us stop at the city of the Jebusites and stay for the night.” ¹² The master said, “I will not stop at a foreign city whose inhabitants are not Israelites. Let us continue on to Gibeah.” ¹³ He said to his servant, “We will try to reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of those places.” ¹⁴ They went on, and the sun was setting as they approached Gibeah in Benjamin. ¹⁵ They stopped there to spend the night in Gibeah. They went in and sat in the city square, but no one took them home for the night.

¹⁶ That evening an old man^[m] came in from working in the fields in the hill country of Ephraim. He was living in Gibeah, and the men of that place were Benjaminites. ¹⁷ When he looked up and saw a traveler in the city square, the old man said, “Where are you going? Where have you come from?” ¹⁸ He answered, “We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to the far side of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there. I had gone to Bethlehem in Judah, but now I am going to the house of the Lord. No one has welcomed me into his home. ¹⁹ We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves your servants—me, your maidservant, and the young man who is with me. We do not need anything.” ²⁰ The old man said, “Peace be with you. Let me supply whatever you need, only do not spend the night in the city square.” ²¹ So he took them into his home and fed the donkeys. He washed their feet, and they had something to eat and drink.

²² Abuse at Gibeah. While they were enjoying themselves, certain men from the city who were surely sons of Belial^[n] surrounded the house. They beat on the door and spoke to the old man, the master of the house, saying, “Bring out the man who entered your house, so that we can know him.” ²³ The master of the house went out to them and said to them: “No, my brothers, do not do this evil thing. This man is a guest in my house; do not do this disgraceful thing. ^24 [o]Look, here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now. You can abuse them, and do whatever you want to them, but do not do such a vile thing to this man.” ²⁵ But the men would not listen to him. The man thrust his concubine outside to them. They raped her and maltreated her all throughout the night, and in the morning they let her go.

²⁶ At daybreak the woman came to the house where her master was staying and fell down in the doorway. She remained there until it was light. ²⁷ Her master got up in the morning and opened the doors to the house to be on his way, and he found his concubine lying in the doorway to the house, her hands upon the threshold. ²⁸ He said to her, “Get up. Let us be on our way,” but there was no answer. The man then put her on his donkey and set out for home.

²⁹ When he arrived home, he picked up a knife, took his concubine, and cut her body into twelve parts. He then sent it into each of the territories of Israel. ³⁰ Everyone who saw it said, “No one has ever done such a thing from the day that the Israelites came up out of Egypt until the present. Think about it. Take counsel. Tell us what to do.”

Chapter 20

The Israelites’ Attack Plan. ¹ All of the Israelites from Dan to Beer-sheba and from Gilead gathered together as one in an assembly before the Lord at Mizpah. ² The leaders of all of the people of the tribes of Israel took their place in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand soldiers armed with swords.

³ Now the Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. The Israelites said, “Tell us how this evil thing happened.” ⁴ The Levite, the husband of the woman who had been killed, answered, “I and my concubine came into Gibeah of Benjamin to spend the night. ⁵ The men of Gibeah rose up and surrounded me and the house during the night. They intended to kill me, and they raped my concubine until she died. ⁶ I took my concubine and cut her up into pieces, sending them to each region in the inheritance of Israel, for they had committed this lewd and disgraceful act in Israel. ⁷ Now, all of you Israelites, discuss it among yourselves and give your counsel here.”

⁸ All of the people rose up as if they were one man and they said, “None of us will go home! No! None of us will return home! ⁹ This is what we are going to do to Gibeah. We will choose who will attack it by lot. ¹⁰ We will take ten from every hundred in all of the tribes of Israel, and one hundred out of one thousand, and one thousand out of every ten thousand. We will also take provisions for the people. When they arrive at Gibeah in Benjamin, they will then pay for all the disgraceful things that they have done in Israel.”

¹¹ All of the men of Israel gathered together, united as if they were one man, and they went up against the city. ¹² The tribes of Israel sent men all throughout the tribe of Benjamin saying, “What is this wicked thing that has been committed among you? ¹³ Deliver up those sons of Belial, those men of Gibeah, so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.”^[p]

But the Benjaminites would not listen to what Israel had said. ¹⁴ The Benjaminites gathered together from out of the cities and they went to Gibeah to fight against the Israelites. ¹⁵ There were twenty-six thousand Benjaminites from the cities armed with swords, in addition to the seven hundred chosen men from Gibeah. ¹⁶ There were seven hundred chosen men among them who were left-handed. Each of them could sling a stone at a hair and never miss.

¹⁷ There were four hundred thousand men from Israel armed with swords (not counting the Benjaminites), each of them fighting men. ¹⁸ The Israelites went up to Bethel and sought counsel from God. They said, “Who among us should be the first to go up in battle against the Benjaminites?” The Lord answered, “Judah should go up first.”^[q]

¹⁹ The next morning the Israelites rose up and camped outside of Gibeah.

²⁰ War with the Benjaminites. The Israelites went out to fight against Benjamin. The Israelites lined themselves up to fight at Gibeah. ²¹ The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and that day they cut twenty-two thousand Israelites down to the ground. ²² But the Israelites encouraged one another and once again took the same positions for battle that they had taken the first day. ²³ The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until that evening, asking counsel of the Lord and saying, “Should we go up again to fight against the Benjaminites, our brothers?” The Lord answered, “Go up to fight them.”

²⁴ So the Israelites approached the Benjaminites the second day. ²⁵ When the Benjaminites came out of Gibeah to fight them the second day, they cut another eighteen thousand Israelites down to the ground, all of them armed with swords. ²⁶ So all of the Israelites, all of the people, went up to Bethel and wept and sat there before the Lord, fasting that entire day until evening. They sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. ²⁷ The Israelites asked counsel of the Lord (for in those days the Ark of the Covenant of God was kept there. ²⁸ Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, ministered before it in those days.) They said, “Shall we once again go out to do battle against the Benjaminites, our brothers, or shall we stop fighting?” The Lord answered, “Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hands.” ^29 [r]Israel set an ambush around Gibeah. ³⁰ The Israelites went up against the Benjaminites on the third day lined up in front of Gibeah as they had been the other times. ³¹ The Benjaminites came out against those people, and they were drawn away from the city. They began to strike and kill the people as they had before, so that thirty Israelites fell in the highways, one leading up to Bethel, and the other to Gibeah, and also in the fields.

³² While the Benjaminites were saying to themselves, “We are striking them down like the other times,” the Israelites were saying, “Let us run away and draw them away from the city and onto the highways.” ³³ All of the Israelites rose up from their positions and they lined up at Baal-tamar. In the meantime, those who were lying in ambush on the western side of Gibeah charged forward. ³⁴ Ten thousand of the chosen men from out of all of Israel attacked Gibeah. The fighting was so heavy that they did not realize that disaster was near. ³⁵ The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel. The Israelites cut down twenty-five thousand, one hundred Benjaminites that day, all of them armed with swords.

³⁶ The Benjaminites then saw that they were defeated. The Israelites had given way before the Benjaminites, because they trusted in the ambush that they had set near Gibeah. ³⁷ The men who had been in ambush made a sudden rush toward Gibeah. The men in ambush marched in and put the entire city to the sword. ³⁸ The Israelites had arranged with those who were in ambush that they should raise up flame and a great cloud of smoke from out of the city. ³⁹ The Israelites would then turn around in the battle.

The Benjaminites had begun to overcome and kill the Israelites, about thirty of them, and they were saying to themselves, “Surely we are striking them down before us as we did in the first battle.” ⁴⁰ When the flames and the column of smoke began to rise up out of the city, the Benjaminites looked back and saw flames rising up into the heavens from the city. ⁴¹ The Israelites turned on them, and the Benjaminites were terrified, for they realized that they faced disaster. ⁴² They fled from before the Israelites, running toward the desert, but the fighting overtook them. Those who were in the city came out and cut them down there. ⁴³ They surrounded the Benjaminites, chased them, and easily overran them near Gibeah, in the direction of the sunrise. ⁴⁴ Eighteen thousand men from Benjamin fell, all of them brave warriors. ⁴⁵ As they turned and fled toward the desert up to the rock of Rimmon, they cut down five thousand men along the highways. They kept after them all the way to Gidom, and killed another two thousand of them. ⁴⁶ On that day, twenty-five thousand men of Benjamin fell, all of them armed with swords and all of them brave warriors.

⁴⁷ But six hundred men had fled into the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months. ⁴⁸ The Israelites went back to the Benjaminites, putting all of the men from their cities and their beasts and anything else they found to the sword. They also burned down all of their cities.

Chapter 21

Preserving the Tribe of Benjamin. ¹ The Israelites had sworn an oath at Mizpah saying, “None of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjaminite.” ² The people went up to Bethel where they sat before God until the evening. They raised up their voices and wept bitterly. ³ They said, “O Lord, God of Israel, why has this happened to Israel, that today there should be one tribe missing from Israel?”

⁴ Early the next morning the people built an altar there and sacrificed burnt offerings and offered peace offerings. ⁵ The Israelites said, “Who from all of the tribes did not come up to the assembly of all of the tribes of Israel before the Lord?” (They had made a solemn oath that anyone who did not come before the Lord at Mizpah was to be put to death.) ⁶ The Israelites grieved for Benjamin, their brother. They said, “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel. ⁷ How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since we have sworn an oath to the Lord that we would not give them our daughters as their wives?”

⁸ Then they asked, “Which one of the tribes has not come to the Lord at Mizpah?” They found that no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the assembly. ⁹ When they counted the people, they realized that none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead were there. ¹⁰ The assembly sent twelve thousand brave fighting men there, giving them the command, “Go and put the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead to the sword, including women and children. ¹¹ This is what you are to do. Wipe out every man and every woman who has slept with a man.” ¹² They found four hundred young women who had never slept with a man among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead. They brought them into the camp in Shiloh which is in the land of Canaan. ¹³ The whole assembly sent a message to the Benjaminites who were at the rock of Rimmon, summoning them in peace. ¹⁴ The Benjaminites then returned and they were given wives from the women of Jabesh-gilead who had been kept alive. But there were not enough of them.

^15 [s]The people grieved for Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. ¹⁶ The elders in the assembly said, “How are we going to provide wives for the rest of them? For the women of Benjamin have been annihilated.” ¹⁷ They said, “The Benjaminite survivors must have an inheritance, so that a tribe of Israel will not be blotted out. ¹⁸ We cannot give them our daughters as wives, for the Israelites have sworn an oath saying, ‘Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin!’ ” ¹⁹ They continued, “But look, there is an annual festival of the Lord in Shiloh, to the north of Bethel and east of the road that runs from Bethel to Shechem and on to the south of Lebonah.” ²⁰ They instructed the Benjaminites, “Go, lie in wait in the vineyards and stay on watch. ²¹ When the young women of Shiloh come out dancing, rise up out of the vineyards and each man can seize a wife for himself from the young women of Shiloh, and then return to Benjamin. ²² When their fathers and their brothers complain to us, we will say, ‘Please do us this favor, for we did not take a wife for each of them during the war. You are not guilty, for you did not really give your women to them.’ ”

²³ This is what the Benjaminites did. Each man took a wife for himself from among the young women who were dancing. They then went and returned to their inheritance, rebuilding the cities and dwelling in them. ²⁴ The Israelites then left that place and each man went to his own tribe, his own clan. Each man returned to his own inheritance. ²⁵ In those days Israel had no king, and everyone did what in his own opinion he thought to be right.

Chapter 1^[t]

Naomi’s Life in Moab. ¹ In the days of the judges,^[u] a famine broke out in the land. A certain man from Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the land of Moab along with his wife and his two sons. ² The man’s name was Elimelech and his wife was Naomi, and his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They traveled to the land of Moab and dwelt there.

³ Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴ They both married Moabite women. The name of one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. When they had lived there for about ten years,^{[v] 5} both Mahlon and Chilion died, leaving the woman bereft of her husband and two sons.

^6 [w]She set out with her two daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab, for in Moab she had heard how the Lord had come to the aid of his people, giving them food to eat. ⁷ She and her two daughters-in-law set out from the place where they had been living and took the road leading back to the land of Judah. ⁸ Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Each of you should go back to your mother’s house. May the Lord show you as much kindness as you have shown to those who died and to me. ⁹ May the Lord grant each of you consolation in the home of a husband.” She then kissed them, and they wept aloud. ¹⁰ They said to her, “We will go with you back to your people.” ¹¹ But Naomi replied, “Go back, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Do I still have any sons in my womb who might become your husbands? ¹² Go back, my daughters. Go your way. I am too old even to have a husband. Even if I thought that there was still hope for me and I slept with a husband tonight and gave birth to sons, ¹³ would you wait for them to grow up? Would you stay unmarried for them? No, my daughters, for it greatly grieves me on your account that the hand of the Lord has been raised against me.”

¹⁴ Ruth Stays with Naomi. They cried out loud again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. ¹⁵ Then she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods. Follow your sister-in-law.” ¹⁶ But Ruth answered, “Please do not insist on my leaving you or forsaking you. Wherever you go I will go, and wherever you live I will live. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.^{[x] 17} Wherever you die, I will die and be buried there. May the Lord do this to me and even worse if anything other than death separates me from you.” ¹⁸ When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

¹⁹ Life in Bethlehem. So they both traveled on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, there was a commotion among all of the inhabitants of the city on account of them. The women exclaimed, “Is this Naomi?” ²⁰ She told them, “Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara. The Almighty has made my life so very bitter. ²¹ I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why should you call me Naomi? The Lord has brought witness against me; the Almighty has afflicted me.”

²² So Naomi returned, and Ruth, the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, went with her. They left the land of Moab and they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Chapter 2

Ruth and Boaz.^{[y] 1} Naomi’s husband had a kinsman, a very wealthy man from the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. ² Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go now to the field and glean ears of corn after one in whose sight I might find favor.” So she said, “Go, my daughter.”

³ She left and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. It happened that she arrived at a portion of the field that belonged to Boaz of the clan of Elimelech.^{[z] 4} Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” They answered him, “The Lord bless you.” ⁵ Boaz asked his foreman of the harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?” ⁶ The foreman of the harvesters answered, “The young woman is a Moabite. She came back with Naomi from the land of Moab. ⁷ She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather the sheaves after the harvesters.’ She arrived early this morning and has continued working continuously until now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

⁸ So Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen to me, my daughter. Do not go and glean in any other field and do not go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. ⁹ Keep your eyes on the field that they are reaping, and follow after them. I have told the young men not to bother you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the young men have drawn.” ¹⁰ She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “Why have I, a foreigner, found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me?” ¹¹ But Boaz answered her, “I have been informed of all that you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband died, how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth and came to live with a people whom you had not previously known. ¹² May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge.”^{[aa] 13} Then she said, “May I continue to find favor in your sight, my lord. You have comforted me and shown kindness to your servant, even though I am not really one of your servants.”

¹⁴ At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here and have some bread and dip it into the sour wine.” She sat alongside the reapers. He served her so much roasted grain that she ate until she was full and there was still some left over.

¹⁵ When she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men: “Even if she gathers among the sheaves, do not reproach her. ¹⁶ Let some fall out from the bundles and leave it there for her to glean, but do not chastise her.”

¹⁷ So she gleaned in the field until the evening. She threshed out what she had gleaned, and it amounted to an ephah of barley. ¹⁸ She gathered it up and went back into the city. She showed her mother-in-law what she had gleaned, and she also brought out and gave her what she had saved after she was full. ¹⁹ Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.” She told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.” ²⁰ Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord who has not withdrawn his favor from the living nor the dead.” Then Naomi said to her, “The man is one of our relatives, one of our closest relations.”^{[ab] 21} Ruth the Moabite added, “He said to me, ‘You should stay close to my young men until they have finished my harvest.’ ” ²² So Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good for you to go out with his servant girls, lest you be harmed in some other field.”

²³ So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and the wheat harvests were over, and she continued to live with her mother-in-law.

Chapter 3^[ac]

Naomi Instructs Ruth. ¹ Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek a home for you so that you may find security? ² Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you were, our relative? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. ³ Bathe and perfume yourself and put on your best clothes. Go down to the floor, but do not let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴ When he lies down to sleep, note the place where he is lying. Go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what you should do.” ⁵ She said to her, “I will do whatever you say.”

⁶ She went down to the floor and did everything just as her mother-in-law had instructed her. ⁷ When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was feeling a bit merry, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. She quietly approached, uncovered his feet and lay down.

⁸ In the middle of the night, the man was startled when he turned over and there was a woman at his feet. ⁹ He said, “Who are you?” She answered, “I am Ruth, your handmaid. Spread your covering^[ad] over your handmaid, for you are my next of kin.” ¹⁰ He said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. This latter kindness you have shown is greater than the former, for you have not sought after the young men, whether poor or rich. ¹¹ Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will give you whatever you ask, for all of my people in the city know that you are a virtuous woman. ¹² It is true that we are close relatives, but there is another relative closer than I. ¹³ Remain this night. When morning comes, if he fulfills his duty as next of kin, then good, let him do it. But if he will not fulfill his duty as next of kin, then I will fulfill that duty for you. I swear, as the Lord lives. Now lie down until the morning.”

¹⁴ So she laid at his feet until the morning, and she arose before it was possible to recognize another person. Then he said, “Do not let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor.” ¹⁵ He also said, “Bring over your shawl and hold it open.” As she held it, he measured out six measures of barley and laid it upon her. She then went into the city.

¹⁶ When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did it go, my daughter?” She told her all that the man had done for her. ¹⁷ Then she said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said to me, ‘Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ ” ¹⁸ Then she said, “Wait here, my daughter, until the matter has worked itself out, for the man will not rest until he has brought it to a conclusion today.”^[ae]

Chapter 4

Boaz Marries Ruth. ¹ So Boaz went to the city gate and sat down there. The relative of whom Boaz had spoken was passing by, so he said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he came over and sat down.^{[af] 2} He gathered ten of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down,” and they sat down.

³ Then he said to the next of kin, “Naomi has come back from the land of Moab and is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our kinsman Elimelech. ⁴ I thought that I would tell this to you. Buy it in the presence of those who dwell here and in the presence of the elders. If you intend to redeem it as next of kin, then redeem it. If you do not intend to redeem it, then tell me so that I can know, for there is no one else besides you to redeem the land, and then I am next in line.” He said, “I will redeem it.” ⁵ Then Boaz said, “When you acquire the field, you also receive the hand of Ruth the Moabite, the wife of the deceased, to raise up the name of the deceased for an inheritance.” ⁶ But the kinsman said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I endanger my own inheritance. You can exercise my right of next of kin, for I cannot redeem it.”

⁷ Now in those days in Israel it was the custom that when there was an act of redemption or of the exchange of lands, one man would take off his sandal and give it to the other in order to confirm the action. This was an act of confirming actions in Israel. ⁸ So the kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” and he took off his sandal.

⁹ Boaz then said to the elders and to all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech, and all that belonged to Chilion and all that belonged to Mahlon. ¹⁰ Moreover, I have acquired Ruth, the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the deceased for an inheritance so that the name of the deceased not disappear from among his brethren nor from the gates of his native place. You are witnesses today.”

¹¹ All the people who were in the gateway and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built up the house of Israel. May you prosper in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem. ¹² May your home be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the children that the Lord will give you through this young woman.”

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. He slept with her, and the Lord granted that she conceive, and she bore a son. ¹⁴ The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you without a next of kin; may his name be famous throughout Israel.^{[ag] 15} He will renew your life and support you in your old age. Your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is worth more than seven sons to you, has borne him.”

¹⁶ Naomi then took the child and laid him in her lap. She became his nurse. ¹⁷ The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son is born to Naomi.” They called him Obed.^[ah] He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. ^18 [ai]This is the genealogy of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron; ¹⁹ Hezron was the father of Ram; Ram was the father of Amminadab; ²⁰ Amminadab was the father of Nahshon; Nahshon was the father of Salmon; ²¹ Salmon was the father of Boaz; Boaz was the father of Obed; ²² Obed was the father of Jesse; and Jesse was the father of David.

The Last Judges: Eli and Samuel^[aj]

Chapter 1^[ak]

Elkanah’s Pilgrimage to Shiloh. ¹ There was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim, from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² He had two wives. The name of one of them was Hannah, and the name of the other was Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not have any children. ³ This man would travel from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts^[al] in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests there.

⁴ When Elkanah performed his sacrifice, he would give a portion of it to Peninnah his wife and a portion each to all of her sons and daughters, ⁵ but he would give a double portion to Hannah, for he loved her although the Lord had left her barren. ⁶ Her rival^[am] provoked her and made her miserable because the Lord had left her barren. ⁷ This went on year after year. Whenever she went up to the house of the Lord, she provoked her. This made her weep, and she refused to eat. ⁸ Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why are you not eating? Why are you so downhearted? Am I not worth more than ten sons to you?”

Hannah’s Prayer. ⁹ Once, when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting upon a chair by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰ She was greatly distressed and she prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.^{[an] 11} She made a vow saying, “O Lord of hosts, if you will regard the troubles of your handmaid and will remember me, and not forget your handmaid, and you will give your handmaid a son, then I will dedicate him to the Lord for his entire life, and no razor^[ao] will ever touch his head.”

¹² As she continued to pray to the Lord, Eli watched her mouth. ¹³ Hannah was praying in her heart so that only her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli, therefore, thought that she was drunk. ¹⁴ He said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Get rid of your wine!” ¹⁵ Hannah answered, “Oh no, my lord! I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking either wine or liquor. I have been pouring out my soul to the Lord. ¹⁶ Do not account your handmaid to be a daughter of Belial. I have been speaking out of the abundance of my difficulties and my grief.” ¹⁷ Then Eli answered, “Go in peace. The God of Israel grant the request you have made of him.” ¹⁸ She said, “Let your handmaid find favor in your sight.” The woman then went her way and ate, and she was not downcast anymore.

¹⁹ They arose early the next morning and worshiped before the Lord. They then went their way and came to their home in Ramah. Elkanah slept with Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.

²⁰ The Birth of Samuel. In time it came to pass that Hannah conceived and bore a son whom she named Samuel, saying, “For I have asked the Lord for him.” ²¹ When Elkanah and his household went up to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, ²² Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will dwell there forever.” ²³ Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Do what you think is best. Stay here until you have weaned him, only may the Lord bring his word to fulfillment.” So the woman stayed there and nursed her son until she weaned him.

²⁴ Samuel’s Consecration. When she had weaned him, she took him with herself along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh, although the child was still young. ²⁵ After they sacrificed the bull, they brought the child to Eli. ^26 [ap]She said, “Oh my lord, as my soul lives, I am the woman who stood beside you praying to the Lord. ²⁷ I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted the request that I made of him. ²⁸ Therefore, I have dedicated him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the Lord.” So they worshiped the Lord there.

Chapter 2

^1 [aq]Then Hannah prayed and said,

¹¹ Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the child ministered before the Lord under Eli the priest.

¹² The Sons of Eli.^[as][at]Now Eli’s sons were sons of Belial, they had no regard for the Lord. ¹³ This is how the priests would deal with the people when anyone came to offer a sacrifice: the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand. ¹⁴ He would stick it in the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot. Everything that he would bring up with the fork was for the priest. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came up to Shiloh. ¹⁵ Even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come up to a man and say, “Give the priest some meat to roast. He will not take any boiled meat from you, only raw meat.” ¹⁶ If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, then you can take what you want,” he would answer him, “No! Give it to me now, or I will take it by force.” ¹⁷ The young men’s sin was very serious before the Lord, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt.

¹⁸ Hannah’s Family Grows. Samuel was ministering to the Lord, a boy wearing a linen ephod.^{[au] 19} His mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him each year when she came up with her husband to offer their yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, “May the Lord grant you children from this woman in place of the one you have dedicated to the Lord.” They then went home. ²¹ The Lord was gracious to Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Young Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.

²² Eli’s Warning Ignored. Now Eli was very old, and he heard about all the things that his sons were doing to the whole of Israel, how they lay with the woman who gathered at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ²³ He said to them, “Why do you do these things? I have been hearing about your evil deeds from everyone. ²⁴ No, my sons! It is an evil report that I hear among the Lord’s people. ²⁵ If one man sins against another, then a judge will judge him. If a man sins against God, who will intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father’s rebuke, for the Lord wanted to put them to death.^[av]

²⁶ Meanwhile young Samuel grew in stature and favor with the Lord and with men.

²⁷ The Punishment of Eli’s Sons.^[aw]Now a man of God came to Eli and said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt, in Pharaoh’s house? ²⁸ Did I not choose him from out of all of the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before me? Did I not give your father’s house all of the burnt offerings of the Israelites? ²⁹ Why do you scorn my sacrifice and my offering that I have prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choicest of the offerings of my people Israel?