Study Desk

Delilah realized that he had confided in her, so she sent and called the rulers of the Philistines, saying, "Come up one more time, for he has confided in me." And the rulers of the Philistines came up, and they brought the money with them.

And the people saw him, and they praised their god, for they said, "Our god has given into our hand those who hate us, devastate our land, and have killed many of us."

And Samson called to Yahweh and said, "My Lord Yahweh, remember me! Please give me strength this one time, O God, so that I can repay with one act of revenge to the Philistines for my eyes."

He returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother thought, "I will certainly consecrate to Yahweh the pieces of silver from my hand for my son to make an idol of cast metal; now then, I will return them to you."

The man Micah had for himself a shrine, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and he appointed one of his sons who became a priest for him.

So Micah appointed the Levite, and the young man became a priest for him; and he was in the house of Micah.

In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking territory for itself to live in, because until that day it had not been allotted territory among the tribes of Israel.

And he said to them, "Micah did such and such for me and hired me, and I became his priest."

And they said to them, "Come, let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Will you do nothing? Do not hesitate to go, to enter, to possess the land.

And they said to him, "Keep quiet! Put your hand on your mouth and come with us and be for us a father and a priest. Is it better being a priest for a house of one man or being a priest for a tribe and clan in Israel?"

He said, "You took away my gods that I had made, and the priest, and then you go away. What is now left for me? How can you say to me, ‘What is the matter?'"

And the descendants of Dan set up for themselves the carved divine image, and Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests for the tribe of the Danites until the time of the captivity of the land.

So they set up for themselves the carved divine image that Micah had made, all the days that the house of God was in Shiloh.

In those days there was no king in Israel; there was a man, a Levite, who dwelled as a foreigner in the remote areas of the hill country of Ephraim. And he took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.

And the man got up to go—he, his concubine, and his servant—but his father-in-law, the father of the young woman, said to him, "Please, the day has worn on to evening; please, spend the night, the day has drawn to a close. Spend the night here and enjoy yourself. You can rise early tomorrow for your journey and go to your home."

There is both straw and fodder for our donkeys, and also bread and wine for me, for your servant, and for the young man who is with your servant; there is no lack of anything."

Then I grabbed my concubine and cut her into pieces, and I sent her throughout all the territory of Israel's inheritance; for they committed a shameful and disgraceful thing in Israel.

We will take ten men of one hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and one thousand of ten thousand, to bring provisions to the troops, to repay them when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin for all the disgraceful things they did in Israel."

And the descendants of Benjamin were gathered from the cities to Gibeah to go out for battle against the Israelites.

Then the Israelites got up and went up to Bethel, and they inquired of God, saying, "Who will go up first for the battle against the descendants of Benjamin?" And Yahweh said, "Judah will go first."