Judges 17-21

New Catholic Bible

Appendices: Stories of Dan and Benjamin^[a]

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,^[b] 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.^{[c] 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.”^[d]

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^[e] 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 [f]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.^{[g] 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.^{[h] 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^[i] 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^[j] 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 [k]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.”^[l]

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.”^[m]

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 [n]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 [o]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.