And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

And Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.

And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons.

And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought for themselves an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day all their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.

And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their borders, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to explore the land, and to search it; and they said to them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.

When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said to him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here?

And the priest said to them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way in which ye go.

Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were in it, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.

When ye go, ye shall come to 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 on the earth.

And they went up, and encamped in Kirjath-jearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan to this day: behold, it is behind Kirjath-jearim.

Then answered the five men that went to explore the country of Laish, and said to their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.

And the five men that went to explore the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.

And they said to him, Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: Is it better for thee to be a priest to the house of one man, or that thou shouldst be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?

And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were collected, and overtook the children of Dan.

And the children of Dan departed: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they built a city and dwelt in it.

And they set up for themselves Micah's graven image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite dwelling on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehem-judah.

And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak kindly to 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 his father-in-law, the damsel's father, retained him; and he abode with him three days: so they ate and drank, and lodged there.

And it came to pass on the fourth day, when they arose early in the morning, that he arose to depart: and the damsel's father said to his son-in-law, Comfort thy heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward depart.

And when the man rose to depart, his father-in-law urged him: therefore he lodged there again.

And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart: and the damsel's father said, Comfort thy heart, I pray thee. And they tarried until afternoon, and they ate both of them.

And when the man arose to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the damsel's father, said to him, Behold now the day draweth towards evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day is coming to an end, lodge here, that thy heart may be merry; and to-morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.

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

And he said to his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah.

And they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin.

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

And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at evening, who was also of mount Ephraim; and he dwelt in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjaminites.

And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a way-faring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?

Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man which is with thy servants: there is no want of any thing:

And the old man said, Peace be with thee; however, let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street.

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

But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth to them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.

Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light.

And her lord rose in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and behold, the woman his concubine had fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshhold.

And he said to her, Rise, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her upon an ass, and the man rose, and went to his place.

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

Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, to the LORD in Mizpeh.

And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.

And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly 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 we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch provisions for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel.

So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and banish evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel:

Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; every one could sling stones to a hair-breadth, and not miss.

And the children of Israel rose in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah.

And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah.

And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.

And the children of Israel inquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

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 thy hand.

And Israel set liers in wait around Gibeah.

And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.

And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

And all the men of Israel rose out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah.

So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjaminites, because they trusted to the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah.

And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the liers in wait drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword.

Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke to rise from the city.

And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle.

But when the flame began to rise from the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjaminites looked behind them, and behold, the flame of the city ascended to heaven.

And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil had come upon them.

Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and them who came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them.

Thus they inclosed the Benjaminites on all sides, and chased them, and trod them down with ease over against Gibeah towards the sun-rising.

And they turned and fled towards the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them to Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.

But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness to the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months.

And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.

And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt-offerings, and peace-offerings.

And the children of Israel repented for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.

And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? and behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.

And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably to them.

And the people repented for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that have escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.

Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go, and lie in wait in the vineyards;

And see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come to us to complain, that we will say to them, Be favorable to them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give to them at this time, that ye should be guilty.

And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned to their inheritance, and repaired the cities and dwelt in them.

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to dwell in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

And they took to themselves wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelt there about ten years.

Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.

Wherefore she went forth from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.

The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.

And they lifted up their voice, and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth cleaved to her.

And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law hath gone back to her people, and to her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law.

When she saw that she was steadfastly resolved to go with her, then she left speaking to her.

So they two went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came to pass, when they had come to Beth-lehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab: and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley-harvest.

And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said to her, Go, my daughter.

And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her lot was to light on a part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.

Then said Boaz to Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens:

Let thy eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art thirsty go to the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn.