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Geba

See ver. 10)

2 Heb.

'Maareh-geba. And there came over against 1Or, the Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all meadow of Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew (or Gibeah 35 not that evil was 'close upon them. And the LORD Smote Benjamin before Israel: and the touching. children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men all these drew the sword.

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3

3

Or, And the (now Benja and the men

men...battle:

min...heaven:)

So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten for the men of Israel gave place to Benjamin, because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set against Gibeah. 37 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 38 the sword. Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait was, that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise 39 up out of the city. 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 40 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 41 went up in smoke to heaven. And the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were amazed for they saw that evil was come upon 42 them. Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them; and 'they which came out of the cities destroyed Or, them 43 them in the midst thereof. They inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and 'trode them down at their resting place, as far as over against Gibeah toward the sunrising. 44 And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand Menuhah

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4

which came

destroyed

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them

6

Or, overtook or, at

1 Or, as other inhabited city See Deut. ii.

wise read, the

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men; all these were men of valour. And they 45
turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the
rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them
in the high ways five thousand men; and fol-
lowed hard after them unto Gidom, and smote
of them two thousand men. So that all which 46
fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five
thousand men that drew the sword; all these
were men of valour. But six hundred men 47
turned and fled toward the wilderness unto
the rock of Rimmon, and abode in the rock of
Rimmon four months. And the men of Israel 48
turned again upon the children of Benjamin,
and smote them with the edge of the sword,
both 'the entire city, and the cattle, and all that
they found: moreover all the cities which they
found they set on fire.

Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, 1 21
saying, There shall not any of us give his
daughter unto Benjamin to wife. And the 2
people came to Beth-el, and sat there till even
before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept
sore. And they said, O LORD, the God of 3
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, 4
that the people rose early, and built there an
altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offer-
ings. And the children of Israel said, Who is 5
there among all the tribes of Israel that came
not up in the assembly unto the LORD? For
they had made a great oath concerning him
that came not up unto the LORD to Mizpah,
saying, He shall surely be put to death. And 6
the children of Israel repented them for Ben-
jamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe
cut off from Israel this day. How shall we do 7
for wives for them that remain, seeing we have

sworn by the LORD that we will not give them 8 of our daughters to wives? And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up unto the LORD to Mizpah? And, behold, there came none to the camp from 9 Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none 10 of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there. And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the II Women and the little ones. And this is the thing that ye shall do; ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lien by 12 man. And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, that had not known man by lying with him and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

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And the whole congregation sent and spake to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace unto 14 them. And Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead: 15 and yet so they sufficed them not. And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

16 Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Ben17 jamin? And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not blotted out from 18 Israel. Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel had

2 Or, strive with us

sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. And they said, Behold, there is 19 Or, the feast a feast of the LORD from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the high way that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. And they commanded the children of Benjamin, 20 saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; and see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh 21 come out to dance in the 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 22 their fathers or their brethren come to 'complain unto us, that we will say unto them, Grant them 3 Or, as a gift graciously unto us: because we took not for each man of them his wife in battle: neither did ye give them unto them; else would ye now be guilty. And the children of Benjamin did so, 23 and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they carried off: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and built the cities, and dwelt in them. And the children of Israel departed thence at 24 that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance. In those days there 25 was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

THE

BOOK OF OF RUTH.

I

1 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 Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the 'country of Moab, he, 1Heb. field. 2 and his wife, and his two sons. And the name

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of the man was Elimelech, and the name of

his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons 2 Heb. Nocmi. Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab,

and continued there. And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her 4 two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and 5 they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chilion died both of them; and the woman was left of her two children and 6 of her husband. 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

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