her husband came after her, hoping he could convince her to return. He brought with him his servant and a pair of donkeys. When she brought him into her father's house and the girl's father saw him, he greeted him warmly.

So the two of them sat down and had a meal together. Then the girl's father said to the man, "Why not stay another night and have a good time!"

But the man did not want to stay another night. He left and traveled as far as Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him a pair of saddled donkeys and his concubine.

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

So they traveled on, and the sun went down when they were near Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin.

But then an old man passed by, returning at the end of the day from his work in the field. The man was from the Ephraimite hill country; he was living temporarily in Gibeah. (The residents of the town were Benjaminites.)

The Levite said to him, "We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. That's where I'm from. I had business in Bethlehem in Judah, but now I'm heading home. But no one has invited me into their home.

The old man said, "Everything is just fine! I will take care of all your needs. But don't spend the night in the town square."

They were having a good time, when suddenly some men of the city, some good-for-nothings, surrounded the house and kept beating on the door. They said to the old man who owned the house, "Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him."

The woman arrived back at daybreak and was sprawled out on the doorstep of the house where her master was staying until it became light.

When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went outside to start on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, sprawled out on the doorstep of the house with her hands on the threshold.

Everyone who saw the sight said, "Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since the Israelites left the land of Egypt! Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!"

All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba and from the land of Gilead left their homes and assembled together before the Lord at Mizpah.

The leaders of all the people from all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God's people, which numbered four hundred thousand sword-wielding foot soldiers.

The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, spoke up, "I and my concubine stopped in Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin to spend the night.

The leaders of Gibeah attacked me and at night surrounded the house where I was staying. They wanted to kill me; instead they abused my concubine so badly that she died.

I grabbed hold of my concubine and carved her up and sent the pieces throughout the territory occupied by Israel, because they committed such an unthinkable atrocity in Israel.

All Israel rose up in unison and said, "Not one of us will go home! Not one of us will return to his house!

We will take ten of every group of a hundred men from all the tribes of Israel (and a hundred of every group of a thousand, and a thousand of every group of ten thousand) to get supplies for the army. When they arrive in Gibeah of Benjamin they will punish them for the atrocity which they committed in Israel."

So all the men of Israel gathered together at the city as allies.

The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, "How could such a wicked thing take place?

Now, hand over the good-for-nothings in Gibeah so we can execute them and purge Israel of wickedness." But the Benjaminites refused to listen to their Israelite brothers.

The men of Israel (not counting Benjamin) had mustered four hundred thousand sword-wielding soldiers, every one an experienced warrior.

The men of Israel marched out to fight Benjamin; they arranged their battle lines against Gibeah.

So all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel. They wept and sat there before the Lord; they did not eat anything that day until evening. They offered up burnt sacrifices and tokens of peace to the Lord.

The Israelites asked the Lord (for the ark of God's covenant was there in those days;

Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving the Lord in those days), "Should we once more march out to fight the Benjaminites our brothers, or should we quit?" The Lord said, "Attack, for tomorrow I will hand them over to you."

All the men of Israel got up from their places and took their positions at Baal Tamar, while the Israelites hiding in ambush jumped out of their places west of Gibeah.

But when the signal, a pillar of smoke, began to rise up from the city, the Benjaminites turned around and saw the whole city going up in a cloud of smoke that rose high into the sky.

They surrounded the Benjaminites, chased them from Nohah, and annihilated them all the way to a spot east of Geba.

Eighteen thousand Benjaminites, all of them capable warriors, fell dead.

The rest turned and ran toward the wilderness, heading toward the cliff of Rimmon. But the Israelites caught five thousand of them on the main roads. They stayed right on their heels all the way to Gidom and struck down two thousand more.

That day twenty-five thousand sword-wielding Benjaminites fell in battle, all of them capable warriors.

Six hundred survivors turned and ran away to the wilderness, to the cliff of Rimmon. They stayed there four months.

The Israelites had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, "Not one of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite."

They said, "Why, O Lord God of Israel, has this happened in Israel?" An entire tribe has disappeared from Israel today!"

The next morning the people got up early and built an altar there. They offered up burnt sacrifices and token of peace.

The Israelites regretted what had happened to their brother Benjamin. They said, "Today we cut off an entire tribe from Israel!

When they took roll call, they noticed none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead were there.

So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors against Jabesh Gilead. They commanded them, "Go and kill with your swords the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children.

Do this: exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has had sexual relations with a male. But spare the lives of any virgins." So they did as instructed.

They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young girls who were virgins -- they had never had sexual relations with a male. They brought them back to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

The entire assembly sent messengers to the Benjaminites at the cliff of Rimmon and assured them they would not be harmed.

The leaders of the assembly said, "How can we find wives for those who are left? After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out.

The remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out.

However, there is an annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel (east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem) and south of Lebonah."

and keep your eyes open. When you see the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration, jump out from the vineyards. Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin.

When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, we'll say to them, "Do us a favor and let them be, for we could not get each one a wife through battle. Don't worry about breaking your oath! You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.'"

The Benjaminites did as instructed. They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives. They went home to their own territory, rebuilt their cities, and settled down.

During the time of the judges there was a famine in the land of Judah. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah went to live as a resident foreigner in the region of Moab, along with his wife and two sons.

(Now the man's name was Elimelech, his wife was Naomi, and his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were of the clan of Ephrath from Bethlehem in Judah.) They entered the region of Moab and settled there.

Then Naomi's two sons, Mahlon and Kilion, also died. So the woman was left all alone -- bereaved of her two children as well as her husband!

So she decided to return home from the region of Moab, accompanied by her daughters-in-law, because while she was living in Moab she had heard that the Lord had shown concern for his people, reversing the famine by providing abundant crops.

Now as she and her two daughters-in-law began to leave the place where she had been living to return to the land of Judah,

Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Listen to me! Each of you should return to your mother's home! May the Lord show you the same kind of devotion that you have shown to your deceased husbands and to me!

May the Lord enable each of you to find security in the home of a new husband!" Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept loudly.

But Naomi replied, "Go back home, my daughters! There is no reason for you to return to Judah with me! I am no longer capable of giving birth to sons who might become your husbands!

Go back home, my daughters! For I am too old to get married again. Even if I thought that there was hope that I could get married tonight and conceive sons,

Wherever you die, I will die -- and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I do not keep my promise! Only death will be able to separate me from you!"

So the two of themWhen they entered Bethlehem, the whole village was excited about their arrival. The women of the village said, "Can this be Naomi?"

So Naomi returned, accompanied by her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, who came back with her from the region of Moab. (Now they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.)

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side of the family named Boaz. He was a wealthy, prominent man from the clan of Elimelech.

So Ruth went and gathered grain in the fields behind the harvesters. Now she just happened to end up in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.

Boaz asked his servant in charge of the harvesters, "To whom does this young woman belong?"

The servant in charge of the harvesters replied, "She's the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the region of Moab.

So Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen carefully, my dear! Do not leave to gather grain in another field. You need not go beyond the limits of this field. You may go along beside my female workers.

Take note of the field where the men are harvesting and follow behind with the female workers. I will tell the men to leave you alone. When you are thirsty, you may go to the water jars and drink some of the water the servants draw."

Boaz replied to her, "I have been given a full report of all that you have done for your mother-in-law following the death of your husband -- how you left your father and your mother, as well as your homeland, and came to live among people you did not know previously.

May the Lord reward your efforts! May your acts of kindness be repaid fully by the Lord God of Israel, from whom you have sought protection!"

She said, "You really are being kind to me, sir, for you have reassured and encouraged me, your servant, even though I am not one of your servants!"

When she got up to gather grain, Boaz told his male servants, "Let her gather grain even among the bundles! Don't chase her off!

Make sure you pull out ears of grain for her and drop them so she can gather them up. Don't tell her not to!"

So she gathered grain in the field until evening. When she threshed what she had gathered, it came to about thirty pounds of barley!

Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you gather grain today? Where did you work? May the one who took notice of you be rewarded!" So Ruth told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked. She said, "The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz."

Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be rewarded by the Lord because he has shown loyalty to the living on behalf of the dead!" Then Naomi said to her, "This man is a close relative of ours; he is our guardian."

So Ruth worked beside Boaz's female servants, gathering grain until the end of the barley harvest as well as the wheat harvest. After that she stayed home with her mother-in-law.

When he gets ready to go to sleep, take careful notice of the place where he lies down. Then go, uncover his legs, and lie down beside him. He will tell you what you should do."

When Boaz had finished his meal and was feeling satisfied, he lay down to sleep at the far end of the grain heap. Then Ruth crept up quietly, uncovered his legs, and lay down beside him.

In the middle of the night he was startled and turned over. Now he saw a woman lying beside him!

He said, "Who are you?" She replied, "I am Ruth, your servant. Marry your servant, for you are a guardian of the family interests."

He said, "May you be rewarded by the Lord, my dear! This act of devotion is greater than what you did before. For you have not sought to marry one of the young men, whether rich or poor.

Remain here tonight. Then in the morning, if he agrees to marry you, fine, let him do so. But if he does not want to do so, I promise, as surely as the Lord lives, to marry you. Sleep here until morning."

Then he said, "Hold out the shawl you are wearing and grip it tightly." As she held it tightly, he measured out about sixty pounds of barley into the shawl and put it on her shoulders. Then he went into town,

She said, "He gave me these sixty pounds of barley, for he said to me, 'Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'"

Then Naomi said, "Stay put, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out. For the man will not rest until he has taken care of the matter today."

Boaz chose ten of the village leaders and said, "Sit down here!" So they sat down.

Then Boaz said to the guardian, "Naomi, who has returned from the region of Moab, is selling the portion of land that belongs to our relative Elimelech.

So I am legally informing you: Acquire it before those sitting here and before the leaders of my people! If you want to exercise your right to redeem it, then do so. But if not, then tell me so I will know. For you possess the first option to redeem it; I am next in line after you." He replied, "I will redeem it."

Then Boaz said, "When you acquire the field from Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the wife of our deceased relative, in order to preserve his family name by raising up a descendant who will inherit his property."

I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, as my wife to raise up a descendant who will inherit his property so the name of the deceased might not disappear from among his relatives and from his village. You are witnesses today."

All the people who were at the gate and the elders replied, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is entering your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built up the house of Israel! May you prosper in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem.

May your family become like the family of Perez -- whom Tamar bore to Judah -- through the descendants the Lord gives you by this young woman."

The neighbor women named him, saying, "A son has been born to Naomi." They named him Obed. Now he became the father of Jesse -- David's father!

These are the descendants of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron,

Hezron was the father of Ram, Ram was the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab was the father of Nachshon, Nachshon was the father of Salmah,

Salmon was the father of Boaz, Boaz was the father of Obed,

Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David.

There was a man from Ramathaim Zophim, from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

He had two wives; the name of the first was Hannah and the name of the second was Peninnah. Now Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.