Judges 17-21

New King James Version

Micah’s Idolatry

17 Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was ^(A)Micah. ² And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you ^(B)put a curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it.”

And his mother said, ^(C)“May you be blessed by the Lord, my son!” ³ So when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son, to ^(D)make a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.” ⁴ Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother ^(E)took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah.

⁵ The man Micah had a ^(F)shrine, and made an ^(G)ephod and ^(H)household^[a] idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. ^6 (I)In those days there was no king in Israel; ^(J)everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷ Now there was a young man from ^(K)Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; he was a Levite, and ^(L)was staying there. ⁸ The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. ⁹ And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?”

So he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to stay.”

¹⁰ Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, ^(M)and be a ^(N)father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. ¹¹ Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him. ¹² So Micah ^(O)consecrated^[b] the Levite, and the young man ^(P)became his priest, and lived in the house of Micah. ¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since I have a Levite as ^(Q)priest!”

The Danites Adopt Micah’s Idolatry

18 In ^(R)those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days ^(S)the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for itself to dwell in; for until that day their inheritance among the tribes of Israel had not fallen to them. ² So the children of Dan sent five men of their family from their territory, men of valor from ^(T)Zorah and Eshtaol, ^(U)to spy out the land and search it. They said to them, “Go, search the land.” So they went to the mountains of Ephraim, to the ^(V)house of Micah, and lodged there. ³ While they were at the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. They turned aside and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What do you have here?”

⁴ He said to them, “Thus and so Micah did for me. He has ^(W)hired me, and I have become his priest.”

⁵ So they said to him, “Please ^(X)inquire ^(Y)of God, that we may know whether the journey on which we go will be prosperous.”

⁶ And the priest said to them, ^(Z)“Go in peace. ^[c]The presence of the Lord be with you on your way.”

⁷ So the five men departed and went to ^(AA)Laish. They saw the people who were there, ^(AB)how they dwelt safely, in the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure. There were no rulers in the land who might put them to shame for anything. They were far from the ^(AC)Sidonians, and they had no ties ^[d]with anyone.

⁸ Then the spies came back to their brethren at ^(AD)Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brethren said to them, “What is your report?”

⁹ So they said, ^(AE)“Arise, let us go up against them. For we have seen the land, and indeed it is very good. Would you ^(AF)do nothing? Do not hesitate to go, and enter to possess the land. ¹⁰ When you go, you will come to a ^(AG)secure people and a large land. For God has given it into your hands, ^(AH)a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”

¹¹ And six hundred men of the family of the Danites went from there, from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war. ¹² Then they went up and encamped in ^(AI)Kirjath Jearim in Judah. (Therefore they call that place ^(AJ)Mahaneh Dan^[e] to this day. There it is, west of Kirjath Jearim.) ¹³ And they passed from there to the mountains of Ephraim, and came to ^(AK)the house of Micah.

^14 (AL)Then the five men who had gone to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their brethren, “Do you know that ^(AM)there are in these houses an ephod, household idols, a carved image, and a molded image? Now therefore, consider what you should do.” ¹⁵ So they turned aside there, and came to the house of the young Levite man—to the house of Micah—and greeted him. ¹⁶ The ^(AN)six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷ Then ^(AO)the five men who had gone to spy out the land went up. Entering there, they took ^(AP)the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image. The priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men who were armed with weapons of war.

¹⁸ When these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

¹⁹ And they said to him, “Be quiet, ^(AQ)put your hand over your mouth, and come with us; ^(AR)be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest to the household of one man, or that you be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?” ²⁰ So the priest’s heart was glad; and he took the ephod, the household idols, and the carved image, and took his place among the people.

²¹ Then they turned and departed, and put the little ones, the livestock, and the goods in front of them. ²² When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan. ²³ And they called out to the children of Dan. So they turned around and said to Micah, ^(AS)“What ails you, that you have gathered such a company?”

²⁴ So he said, “You have ^(AT)taken away my ^[f]gods which I made, and the priest, and you have gone away. Now what more do I have? How can you say to me, ‘What ails you?’ ”

²⁵ And the children of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest ^[g]angry men fall upon you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household!” ²⁶ Then the children of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

Danites Settle in Laish

²⁷ So they took the things Micah had made, and the priest who had belonged to him, and went to Laish, to a people quiet and secure; ^(AU)and they struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. ²⁸ There was no deliverer, because it was ^(AV)far from Sidon, and they had no ties with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs ^(AW)to Beth Rehob. So they rebuilt the city and dwelt there. ²⁹ And ^(AX)they called the name of the city ^(AY)Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel. However, the name of the city formerly was Laish.

³⁰ Then the children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of ^[h]Manasseh, and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan ^(AZ)until the day of the captivity of the land. ³¹ So they set up for themselves Micah’s carved image which he made, ^(BA)all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

The Levite’s Concubine

19 And it came to pass in those days, ^(BB)when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite staying in the remote mountains of Ephraim. He took for himself a concubine from ^(BC)Bethlehem in Judah. ² But his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there four whole months. ³ Then her husband arose and went after her, to ^(BD)speak ^[i]kindly to her and bring her back, having his servant and a couple of donkeys with him. So she brought him into her father’s house; and when the father of the young woman saw him, he was glad to meet him. ⁴ Now his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, detained him; and he stayed with him three days. So they ate and drank and lodged there.

⁵ Then it came to pass on the fourth day that they arose early in the morning, and he stood to depart; but the young woman’s father said to his son-in-law, ^(BE)“Refresh your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way.”

⁶ So they sat down, and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the young woman’s father said to the man, “Please be content to stay all night, and let your heart be merry.” ⁷ And when the man stood to depart, his father-in-law urged him; so he lodged there again. ⁸ Then he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart, but the young woman’s father said, “Please refresh your heart.” So they delayed until afternoon; and both of them ate.

⁹ And when the man stood to depart—he and his concubine and his servant—his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said to him, “Look, the day is now drawing toward evening; please spend the night. See, the day is coming to an end; lodge here, that your heart may be merry. Tomorrow go your way early, so that you may get ^[j]home.”

¹⁰ However, the man was not willing to spend that night; so he rose and departed, and came opposite ^(BF)Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). With him were the two saddled donkeys; his concubine was also with him. ¹¹ They were near Jebus, and the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, “Come, please, and let us turn aside into this city ^(BG)of the Jebusites and lodge in it.”

¹² But his master said to him, “We will not turn aside here into a city of foreigners, who are not of the children of Israel; we will go on ^(BH)to Gibeah.” ¹³ So he said to his servant, “Come, let us draw near to one of these places, and spend the night in Gibeah or in ^(BI)Ramah.” ¹⁴ And they passed by and went their way; and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. ¹⁵ They turned aside there to go in to lodge in Gibeah. And when he went in, he sat down in the open square of the city, for no one would ^(BJ)take them into his house to spend the night.

¹⁶ Just then an old man came in from ^(BK)his work in the field at evening, who also was from the mountains of Ephraim; he was staying in Gibeah, whereas the men of the place were Benjamites. ¹⁷ And when he raised his eyes, he saw the traveler in the open square of the city; and the old man said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”

¹⁸ So he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah toward the remote mountains of Ephraim; I am from there. I went to Bethlehem in Judah; now I am going to ^(BL)the house of the Lord. But there is no one who will take me into his house, ¹⁹ although we have both straw and fodder for our donkeys, and bread and wine for myself, for your female servant, and for the young man who is with your servant; there is no lack of anything.”

²⁰ And the old man said, ^(BM)“Peace be with you! However, let all your needs be my responsibility; ^(BN)only do not spend the night in the open square.” ^21 (BO)So he brought him into his house, and gave fodder to the donkeys. ^(BP)And they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

Gibeah’s Crime

²² As they were ^(BQ)enjoying themselves, suddenly ^(BR)certain men of the city, ^(BS)perverted^[k] men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, ^(BT)“Bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him carnally!”

²³ But ^(BU)the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brethren! I beg you, do not act so wickedly! Seeing this man has come into my house, ^(BV)do not commit this outrage. ^24 (BW)Look, here is my virgin daughter and ^[l]the man’s concubine; let me bring them out now. ^(BX)Humble them, and do with them as you please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing!” ²⁵ But the men would not heed him. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. And they ^(BY)knew her and abused her all night until morning; and when the day began to break, they let her go.

²⁶ Then the woman came as the day was dawning, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, till it was light.

²⁷ When her master arose in the morning, and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way, there was his concubine, fallen at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸ And he said to her, “Get up and let us be going.” But ^(BZ)there was no answer. So the man lifted her onto the donkey; and the man got up and went to his place.

²⁹ When he entered his house he took a knife, laid hold of his concubine, and ^(CA)divided her into twelve pieces, ^[m]limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. ³⁰ And so it was that all who saw it said, “No such deed has been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, ^(CB)confer, and speak up!”

Israel’s War with the Benjamites

20 So ^(CC)all the children of Israel came out, from ^(CD)Dan to ^(CE)Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the Lord ^(CF)at Mizpah. ² And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers ^(CG)who drew the sword. ³ (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.)

Then the children of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wicked deed happen?”

⁴ So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “My concubine and ^(CH)I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night. ^5 (CI)And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, ^(CJ)but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died. ⁶ So ^(CK)I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they ^(CL)committed lewdness and outrage in Israel. ⁷ Look! All of you are children of Israel; ^(CM)give your advice and counsel here and now!”

⁸ So all the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house; ⁹ but now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up ^(CN)against it by lot. ¹⁰ We will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to make provisions for the people, that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin, they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man.

^12 (CO)Then the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has occurred among you? ¹³ Now therefore, deliver up the men, ^(CP)the ^[n]perverted men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and ^(CQ)remove the evil from Israel!” But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. ¹⁴ Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to Gibeah, to go to battle against the children of Israel. ¹⁵ And from their cities at that time ^(CR)the children of Benjamin numbered twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered seven hundred select men. ¹⁶ Among all this people were seven hundred select men who were ^(CS)left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss. ¹⁷ Now besides Benjamin, the men of Israel numbered four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of war.

¹⁸ Then the children of Israel arose and ^(CT)went up to ^[o]the house of God to ^(CU)inquire of God. They said, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?”

The Lord said, ^(CV)“Judah first!”

¹⁹ So the children of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. ²⁰ And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel put themselves in battle array to fight against them at Gibeah. ²¹ Then ^(CW)the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day cut down to the ground twenty-two thousand men of the Israelites. ²² And the people, that is, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves and again formed the battle line at the place where they had put themselves in array on the first day. ^23 (CX)Then the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, “Shall I again draw near for battle against the children of my brother Benjamin?”

And the Lord said, “Go up against him.”

²⁴ So the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second day. ²⁵ And ^(CY)Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah on the second day, and cut down to the ground eighteen thousand more of the children of Israel; all these drew the sword.

²⁶ Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, ^(CZ)went up and came to ^[p]the house of God and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. ²⁷ So the children of Israel inquired of the Lord (^(DA)the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, ^28 (DB)and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, ^(DC)stood before it in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?”

And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.”

²⁹ Then Israel ^(DD)set men in ambush all around Gibeah. ³⁰ And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in battle array against Gibeah as at the other times. ³¹ So the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city. They began to strike down and kill some of the people, as at the other times, in the highways ^(DE)(one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah) and in the field, about thirty men of Israel. ³² And the children of Benjamin said, “They are defeated before us, as at first.”

But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” ³³ So all the men of Israel rose from their place and put themselves in battle array at Baal Tamar. Then Israel’s men in ambush burst forth from their position in the plain of Geba. ³⁴ And ten thousand select men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. ^(DF)But ^[q]the Benjamites did not know that disaster was upon them. ³⁵ The Lord ^[r]defeated Benjamin before Israel. And the children of Israel destroyed that day twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites; all these drew the sword.

³⁶ So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. ^(DG)The men of Israel had given ground to the Benjamites, because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah. ^37 (DH)And the men in ambush quickly rushed upon Gibeah; the men in ambush spread out and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword. ³⁸ Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of ^(DI)smoke rise up from the city, ³⁹ whereupon the men of Israel would turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun ^[s]to strike and kill about thirty of the men of Israel. For they said, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.” ⁴⁰ But when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, the Benjamites ^(DJ)looked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in smoke to heaven. ⁴¹ And when the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin panicked, for they saw that disaster had come upon them. ⁴² Therefore they ^[t]turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them, and whoever came out of the cities they destroyed in their midst. ⁴³ They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily trampled them down as far as the front of Gibeah toward the east. ⁴⁴ And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor. ⁴⁵ Then ^[u]they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of ^(DK)Rimmon; and they cut down five thousand of them on the highways. Then they pursued them relentlessly up to Gidom, and killed two thousand of them. ⁴⁶ So all who fell of Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all these were ^[v]men of valor.

^47 (DL)But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months. ⁴⁸ And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin, and struck them down with the edge of the sword—from every city, men and beasts, all who were found. They also set fire to all the cities they came to.

Wives Provided for the Benjamites

21 Now ^(DM)the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” ² Then the people came ^(DN)to ^[w]the house of God, and remained there before God till evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly, ³ and said, “O Lord God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that today there should be one tribe missing in Israel?”

⁴ So it was, on the next morning, that the people rose early and ^(DO)built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ⁵ The children of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up with the assembly to the Lord?” ^(DP)For they had made a great oath concerning anyone who had not come up to the Lord at Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” ⁶ And the children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel today. ⁷ What shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them our daughters as wives?”

⁸ And they said, “What one is there from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord?” And, in fact, no one had come to the camp from ^(DQ)Jabesh Gilead to the assembly. ⁹ For when the people were counted, indeed, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead was there. ¹⁰ So the congregation sent out there twelve thousand of their most valiant men, and commanded them, saying, ^(DR)“Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and children. ¹¹ And this is the thing that you shall do: ^(DS)You shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has known a man intimately.” ¹² So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known a man intimately; and they brought them to the camp at ^(DT)Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

¹³ Then the whole congregation sent word to the children of Benjamin ^(DU)who were at the rock of Rimmon, and announced peace to them. ¹⁴ So Benjamin came back at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead; and yet they had not found enough for them.

¹⁵ And the people ^(DV)grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a void in the tribes of Israel.

¹⁶ Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” ¹⁷ And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be destroyed from Israel. ¹⁸ However, we cannot give them wives from our daughters, ^(DW)for the children of Israel have sworn an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the one who gives a wife to Benjamin.’ ” ¹⁹ Then they said, “In fact, there is a yearly ^(DX)feast of the Lord in ^(DY)Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east side of the ^(DZ)highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”

²⁰ Therefore they instructed the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go, lie in wait in the vineyards, ²¹ and watch; and just when the daughters of Shiloh come out ^(EA)to perform their dances, then come out from the vineyards, and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh; then go to the land of Benjamin. ²² Then it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, that we will say to them, ‘Be kind to them for our sakes, because we did not take a wife for any of them in the war; for it is not as though you have given the women to them at this time, making yourselves guilty of your oath.’ ”

²³ And the children of Benjamin did so; they took enough wives for their number from those who danced, whom they caught. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, and they ^(EB)rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them. ²⁴ So the children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family; they went out from there, every man to his inheritance.

^25 (EC)In those days there was no king in Israel; ^(ED)everyone did what was right in his own eyes.