Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



Now the men of Israel had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, Not one of us will give his daughter as a wife to Benjamin. And the people came to Beth-el, waiting there till evening before God, and gave themselves up to bitter weeping. And they said, O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this fate come on Israel, that today one tribe has been cut off from Israel? read more.
Then on the day after, the people got up early and made an altar there, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings. And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel, who did not come up to the Lord at the meeting of all Israel? For they had taken a great oath that whoever did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord was to be put to death. And the children of Israel were moved with pity for Benjamin their brother, saying, Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel. What are we to do about wives for those who are still living? For we have taken an oath by the Lord that we will not give them our daughters for wives. And they said, Which one of the tribes of Israel did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord? And it was seen that no one had come from Jabesh-gilead to the meeting. For when the people were numbered, not one man of the people of Jabesh-gilead was present. So they (the meeting) sent twelve thousand of the best fighting-men, and gave them orders, saying, Go and put the people of Jabesh-gilead to the sword without mercy, with their women and their little ones. And this is what you are to do: every male, and every woman who has had sex relations with a man, you are to put to the curse, but you are to keep safe the virgins. And they did so. Now there were among the people of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had never had sex relations with a man; these they took to their tents in Shiloh in the land of Canaan. And all the meeting sent to the men of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, offering them peace. Then Benjamin came back; and they gave them the women whom they had kept from death among the women of Jabesh-gilead: but still there were not enough for them. And the people were moved with pity for Benjamin, because the Lord had let his wrath loose on the tribes of Israel. Then the responsible men of the meeting said, What are we to do about wives for the rest of them, seeing that the women of Benjamin are dead? And they said, How is the rest of Benjamin to be given offspring so that one tribe of Israel may not be put out of existence, Seeing that we may not give them our daughters as wives? For the children of Israel had taken an oath, saying, Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin. And they said, See, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway which goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. And they said to the men of Benjamin, Go into the vine-gardens, waiting there secretly, And watching; and if the daughters of Shiloh come out to take part in the dances, then come from the vine-gardens and take a wife for every one of you from among the daughters of Shiloh, and go back to the land of Benjamin. And when their fathers or their brothers come and make trouble, you are to say to them, Give them to us as an act of grace; for we did not take them as wives for ourselves in war; and if you yourselves had given them to us you would have been responsible for the broken oath. So the men of Benjamin did this, and got wives for themselves for every one of their number, taking them away by force from the dance; then they went back to their heritage, building up their towns and living in them.


And they said, See, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway which goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

He went out of Judaea into Galilee again. And it was necessary for him to go through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria which was named Sychar, near to the bit of land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph:


And they said, See, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway which goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.


Now the men of Israel had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, Not one of us will give his daughter as a wife to Benjamin. And the people came to Beth-el, waiting there till evening before God, and gave themselves up to bitter weeping. And they said, O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this fate come on Israel, that today one tribe has been cut off from Israel? read more.
Then on the day after, the people got up early and made an altar there, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings. And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel, who did not come up to the Lord at the meeting of all Israel? For they had taken a great oath that whoever did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord was to be put to death. And the children of Israel were moved with pity for Benjamin their brother, saying, Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel. What are we to do about wives for those who are still living? For we have taken an oath by the Lord that we will not give them our daughters for wives. And they said, Which one of the tribes of Israel did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord? And it was seen that no one had come from Jabesh-gilead to the meeting. For when the people were numbered, not one man of the people of Jabesh-gilead was present. So they (the meeting) sent twelve thousand of the best fighting-men, and gave them orders, saying, Go and put the people of Jabesh-gilead to the sword without mercy, with their women and their little ones. And this is what you are to do: every male, and every woman who has had sex relations with a man, you are to put to the curse, but you are to keep safe the virgins. And they did so. Now there were among the people of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had never had sex relations with a man; these they took to their tents in Shiloh in the land of Canaan. And all the meeting sent to the men of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, offering them peace. Then Benjamin came back; and they gave them the women whom they had kept from death among the women of Jabesh-gilead: but still there were not enough for them. And the people were moved with pity for Benjamin, because the Lord had let his wrath loose on the tribes of Israel. Then the responsible men of the meeting said, What are we to do about wives for the rest of them, seeing that the women of Benjamin are dead? And they said, How is the rest of Benjamin to be given offspring so that one tribe of Israel may not be put out of existence, Seeing that we may not give them our daughters as wives? For the children of Israel had taken an oath, saying, Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin. And they said, See, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway which goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. And they said to the men of Benjamin, Go into the vine-gardens, waiting there secretly, And watching; and if the daughters of Shiloh come out to take part in the dances, then come from the vine-gardens and take a wife for every one of you from among the daughters of Shiloh, and go back to the land of Benjamin. And when their fathers or their brothers come and make trouble, you are to say to them, Give them to us as an act of grace; for we did not take them as wives for ourselves in war; and if you yourselves had given them to us you would have been responsible for the broken oath. So the men of Benjamin did this, and got wives for themselves for every one of their number, taking them away by force from the dance; then they went back to their heritage, building up their towns and living in them.


And they said, See, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway which goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.


So they made selection of Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (which is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah.

And they said, See, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway which goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

And they gave them Shechem with its grass-lands in the hill-country of Ephraim, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Gezer with its grass-lands;


Then when she had done so, she took him with her, with a three-year old ox and an ephah of meal and a skin full of wine, and took him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh: now the child was still very young.

This he put into the pot, and everything which came up on the hook the priest took for himself. This they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

So after they had taken food and wine in the guest room, Hannah got up. Now Eli the priest was seated by the pillars of the doorway of the Temple of the Lord.

And the man Elkanah with all his family went up to make the year's offering to the Lord, and to give effect to his oath.

Now this man went up from his town every year to give worship and to make offerings to the Lord of armies in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there.

And they said, See, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway which goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

And all the meeting of the children of Israel came together at Shiloh and put up the Tent of meeting there: and the land was crushed before them. But there were still seven tribes among the children of Israel who had not taken up their heritage. Then Joshua said to the children of Israel, Why are you so slow to go in and take up your heritage in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you? read more.
Take from among you three men from every tribe; and I will send them to go through the land and make a record of it for distribution as their heritage; then let them come back to me. And let them make division of it into seven parts: let Judah keep inside his limit on the south, and let the children of Joseph keep inside their limit on the north. And you are to have the land marked out in seven parts, and come back to me with the record; and I will make the distribution for you here by the decision of the Lord our God. For the Levites have no part among you; to be the Lord's priests is their heritage; and Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have had their heritage on the east side of Jordan, given to them by Moses, the servant of the Lord. So the men got up and went; and Joshua gave orders to those who went, to make a record of the land, saying, Go up and down through the land, and make a record of it and come back here to me, and I will make the distribution for you here by the decision of the Lord in Shiloh. So the men went, travelling through the land, and made a record of it by towns in seven parts in a book, and came back to Joshua to the tent-circle at Shiloh. And Joshua made the distribution for them in Shiloh by the decision of the Lord, marking out the land for the children of Israel by their divisions.

And they put up for themselves the image which Micah had made, and it was there all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

So that he went away from the holy place in Shiloh, the tent which he had put among men;

But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I put my name at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil-doing of my people Israel.


And they said, See, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway which goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.


And when the people came back to their tents, the responsible men of Israel said, Why has the Lord let the Philistines overcome us today? Let us get the ark of the Lord's agreement here from Shiloh, so that it may be with us and give us salvation from the hands of those who are against us. So the people sent to Shiloh and got the ark of the agreement of the Lord of armies whose resting-place is between the winged ones; and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were there with the ark of God's agreement.

And all the meeting of the children of Israel came together at Shiloh and put up the Tent of meeting there: and the land was crushed before them.

And they got up and went up to Beth-el to get directions from God, and the children of Israel said, Who is to be the first to go up to the fight against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah is to go up first.

This he put into the pot, and everything which came up on the hook the priest took for himself. This they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

These are the heritages which Eleazar the priest and Joshua, the son of Nun, and the heads of families of the tribes of the children of Israel gave out at Shiloh, by the decision of the Lord, at the door of the Tent of meeting. So the distribution of the land was complete.

And they said, See, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway which goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

And they put up for themselves the image which Micah had made, and it was there all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I put my name at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil-doing of my people Israel.

Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up to Beth-el, weeping and waiting there before the Lord, going without food all day till evening, and offering burned offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord. And the children of Israel made request to the Lord, (for the ark of the agreement of the Lord was there in those days,

For this reason I will do to the house which is named by my name, and in which you have put your faith, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.