And his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him to her father's house to Bethlehem-judah, and was there the space of four months.

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

And it came to pass on the fourth day, that they arose early in the morning, and he rose up to depart. And the damsel's father said to his son-in-law, Strengthen thy heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward ye shall go your way.

So they sat down, and ate and drank, both of them together. And the damsel's father said to the man, Be pleased, I pray thee, to tarry all night, and let thy heart be merry.

And the man rose up to depart, but his father-in-law urged him, and he lodged there again.

And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart. And the damsel's father said, Strengthen thy heart, I pray thee, and tarry ye until the day declines. And they ate, both of them.

And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the damsel's father, said to him, Behold, now the day draws toward evening, I pray you tarry all night. Behold, the day grows to an end,

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 aside into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.

And his master said to him, We will not turn aside into the city of a foreigner that is not of the sons of Israel, but we will pass over to Gibeah.

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

So they passed on and went their way. And the sun went down upon them near to Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.

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

And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city. And the old man said, Where do thou go? And from where do thou come?

And he said to him, We are passing from Bethlehem-judah to the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem-judah. And I am [now] going to the house of LORD, and there is no man that takes m

And the old man said, Peace be to thee. However let all thy wants lay upon me, only do not lodge in the street.

As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows, beset the house round about, beating at the door. And they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man who ca

And the man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, No, my brothers, I pray you, do not so wickedly, seeing that this man has come into my house. Do not this folly.

Behold, here is my daughter a virgin, and his concubine. I will bring them out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seems good to you, but to this man do not any such folly.

But the men would not hearken to him. So the man laid hold on 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 the woman came 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 up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way, and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands upon the threshold.

And he said to her, Up, and let us be going, but there was no answering. Then he took her up upon the donkey, and the man rose up, and got to his place.

And it was so, that all who saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the sons of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it, take counsel, and speak.

Then all the sons of Israel went out. And the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to LORD at Mizpah.

(Now the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the sons of Israel said, Tell us, how was this wickedness brought to pass?

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

And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about me by night. They thought to have me slain, and they forced my concubine, and she is dead.

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 to his house.

But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: [We will go up] against it by lot,

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 provision for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin,

And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that has come to pass among you?

Now therefore deliver up the men, the base fellows, who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brothers the sons of Israel.

And the sons of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the sons of Israel.

And the sons of Benjamin were numbered on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew a sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

And the sons of Israel arose, and went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God. And they said, Who shall go up for us first to battle against the sons of Benjamin? And LORD said, Judah first.

And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin. And the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah.

And the sons of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites on that day twenty-two thousand men.

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

And the sons of Israel went up and wept before LORD until evening. And they asked of LORD, saying, Shall I again draw near to battle against the sons of Benjamin my brother? And LORD said, Go up against him.

And the sons of Israel came near against the sons of Benjamin the second day.

And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the sons of Israel again eighteen thousand men. All these drew the sword.

Then all the sons of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there before LORD, and fasted that day until evening, and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before LORD.

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 sons of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And LORD said, Go up, for tomorrow I will del

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

And the sons of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city. And they began to smite and kill of the people as at other times, in the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel, and the other to Gibeah, in

And the sons of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us as at the first. But the sons of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them away from the city to the highways.

And LORD smote Benjamin before Israel, and the sons of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand and a hundred men. All these drew the sword.

So the sons of Benjamin saw that they were smitten, for the men of Israel gave place to Benjamin because they trusted to the ambushment whom they had set against Gibeah.

And the men of Israel turned in the battle, and 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 cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the whole of the city went up [in smoke] to heaven.

Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness. But the battle followed hard after them, and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst of it.

And they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon. And they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men, and followed hard after them to Gidom, and smote of them two thousand men.

So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword. All these [were] men of valor.

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

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

And the people came to Bethel, and sat there till evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept bitterly.

And they said, O LORD, the God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that there should be today 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 sons of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that did not come up in the assembly to LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him who did not come up to LORD to Mizpah, saying, He shall surely be

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

What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?

And they said, Which one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to LORD to Mizpah? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.

And this is the thing that ye shall do: Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that has lain by man.

And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known man by laying with him, and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

And the whole congregation sent and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them.

Then the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?

However we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the sons of Israel had sworn, saying, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.

And they said, Behold, there is a feast of LORD from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

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

And it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, Grant them graciously to us, because we took not for each man [of them] his wife in battle, neither did ye give them to them, e

And the sons of Benjamin did so, and took for them wives, according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off. And they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and dwelt in them.

And the sons of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.

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

And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left, and her two sons.

And Mahlon and Chilion died, both of them, and the woman was left of her two children and of her husband.

And she went forth out of 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 of you to her mother's house. LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.

And they said to her, No, but we will return with thee to thy people.

Turn again, my daughters. Go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope. If I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons,

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

And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and to her god. Return thou after thy sister-in-law.

And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, and to return from following after thee, for where thou go, I will go, and where thou lodge, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

Where thou die, I will die, and there I will be buried. LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts thee and me.

And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her.

So those two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they came to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and [the women] said, Is this Naomi?

And she said to them, Call me not Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

I went out full, and LORD has brought me home again empty. Why do ye call me Naomi, seeing LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?

So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

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

And she went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And her chance was to land on the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, LORD be with you. And they answered him, LORD bless thee.

Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this?

Then Boaz said to Ruth, Do thou not hear, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither pass from here, but abide here close by my maidens.

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

Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in thy sight that thou should take knowledge of me, seeing I am a foreigner?

And Boaz answered and said to her, It has been fully shown me all that thou have done to thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband, and how thou have left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and have com

LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou have come to take refuge.

Then she said, Let me find favor in thy sight, my lord, because thou have comforted me, and because thou have spoken kindly to thy handmaid, though I be not as one of thy handmaidens.

And at mealtime Boaz said to her, Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers, and they passed her parched grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left of it.