When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth.

So they turned aside thither, and entered into the house of the young man the Levite, the house of Micah, - and asked him of his welfare.

And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?

Then was the heart of the priest glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, - and came into the midst of the people.

And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak friendly unto her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.

And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.

And his master said unto him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel; we will pass over to Gibeah.

He said to his servant, "Come on, we will go into one of the other towns and spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah."

And they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah: and when he went in, he sat him down in a street of the city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging.

After they entered the city, they had to sit down in the public square because no one would take them into their home for the night. Just then, an old man was coming out of the fields that evening from work. The man was from the mountainous region of Ephraim and had been staying in Gibeah, even though the men of that place were descendants of Benjamin.

And he said to him, We are passing from Bethlehem-judah to the side of mount Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem-judah, but I am going to the house of Jehovah. And there is no man who receives me into his house.

So he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink.

Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.

And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly.

And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.

And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.

Then I grabbed my concubine and cut her into pieces, and I sent her throughout all the territory of Israel's inheritance; for they committed a shameful and disgraceful thing in Israel.

And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house.

And the tribes of Israel will send men into all the tribes of Benjamin, saying, What this evil which was among you?

And all the sons of Israel, and all the people, went up and came into the house of God, and wept, and sat there before Jehovah and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Jehovah.

And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.

Then the Benjaminites said, "They are defeated just as before." But the Israelites said, "Let's retreat and lure them away from the city into the main roads."

But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and behold, the whole city went up in smoke into the sky.

And they turned before the men of Israel into the way that leadeth to the wilderness, the other following them at the hard heels. And beside that they of the city destroyed them in the middle of them.

The rest of them turned and ran into the wilderness in the direction of the rock of Rimmon, but 5,000 of them were killed on the highways while 2,000 of them were overtaken and killed near Gidom.

But 600 men escaped into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and stayed there four months.

And the men of Israel have turned back unto the sons of Benjamin, and smite them by the mouth of the sword out of the city, -- men unto cattle, unto all that is found; also all the cities which are found they have sent into fire.

So they said, What one of the tribes of Israel is there, that hath not come up unto Yahweh at Mizpah? And lo! no man had come into the camp, out of Jabesh-gilead, unto the convocation:

And they found - of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead - four hundred young women, virgins, who had not cohabited with man, - so they brought them into the camp, at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

And they said to the men of Benjamin, Go into the vine-gardens, waiting there secretly,