Along The Way (August 15 - 21, 2025)
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Judges 18
The Migration of Dan
In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking for itself a territory to live in, for until then no territory among the tribes of Israel had been allotted to them. So the Danites sent five valiant men from the whole number of their clan, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it, and they said to them, “Go, explore the land.” When they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they stayed there. While they were at Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite, so they went over and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” He said to them, “Micah did such and such for me, and he hired me, and I have become his priest.” Then they said to him, “Inquire of God that we may know whether the mission we are undertaking will succeed.” The priest replied, “Go in peace. The mission you are on is under the eye of the Lord.”
The five men went on, and when they came to Laish, they observed the people who were there living securely, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking nothing on earth, and possessing wealth. Furthermore, they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with Aram. When they came to their kinsfolk at Zorah and Eshtaol, they said to them, “What do you report?” They said, “Come, let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Will you do nothing? Do not be slow to go, but enter in and possess the land. When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people. The land is broad — God has indeed given it into your hands — a place where there is no lack of anything on earth.”
Six hundred men of the Danite clan, armed with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol and went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. On this account that place is called Mahaneh-dan to this day; it is west of Kiriath-jearim. From there they passed on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.
Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land (that is, Laish) said to their comrades, “Do you know that in these buildings there are an ephod, teraphim, and an idol of cast metal? Now, therefore, consider what you will do.” So they turned in that direction and came to the house of the young Levite at the home of Micah and greeted him. While the six hundred men of the Danites, armed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate, the five men who had gone to spy out the land proceeded to enter and take the idol of cast metal, the ephod, and the teraphim. The priest was standing by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war. When the men went into Micah’s house and took the idol of cast metal, the ephod, and the teraphim, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” They said to him, “Keep quiet! Put your hand over your mouth, and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one person or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?” Then the priest accepted the offer. He took the ephod, the teraphim, and the idol and went along with the people.
So they resumed their journey, putting the little ones, the livestock, and the goods in front of them. When they were some distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they overtook the Danites. They shouted to the Danites, who turned around and said to Micah, “What is the matter that you come with such a company?” He replied, “You take my gods that I made and the priest and go away, and what have I left? How then can you ask me, ‘What is the matter?’ ” And the Danites said to him, “You had better not let your voice be heard among us, or else hot-tempered fellows will attack you, and you will lose your life and the lives of your household.” Then the Danites went their way. When Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home.
The Danites Settle in Laish
The Danites, having taken what Micah had made and the priest who belonged to him, came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, put them to the sword, and burned down the city. There was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with Aram. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. They rebuilt the city and lived in it. They named the city Dan after their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel, but the name of the city was formerly Laish. Then the Danites set up the idol for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom son of Moses and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the time the land went into captivity. So they maintained as their own Micah’s idol that he had made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.
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Judges 19
The Levite’s Concubine
In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite residing in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. But his concubine became angry with him, and she went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah and was there some four months. Then her husband set out after her, to speak tenderly to her and bring her back. He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys. When he reached her father’s house, the young woman’s father saw him and came with joy to meet him. His father-in-law, the young woman’s father, made him stay, and he remained with him three days; so they ate and drank, and he stayed there. On the fourth day they got up early in the morning, and he prepared to go, but the young woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Fortify yourself with a bit of food, and after that you may go.” So the two men sat and ate and drank together, and the young woman’s father said to the man, “Why not spend the night and enjoy yourself?” When the man got up to go, his father-in-law kept urging him until he spent the night there again. On the fifth day he got up early in the morning to leave, and the young woman’s father said, “Fortify yourself and linger until the day declines.” So the two of them ate. When the man with his concubine and his servant got up to leave, his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said to him, “Look, the day has worn on until it is almost evening. Spend the night. See, the day has drawn to a close. Spend the night here and enjoy yourself. Tomorrow you can get up early in the morning for your journey and go home.”
But the man would not spend the night; he got up and departed and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him a couple of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with him. When they were near Jebus, the day was far spent, and the servant said to his master, “Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.” But his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into a city of foreigners, who do not belong to the people of Israel, but we will continue on to Gibeah.” Then he said to his servant, “Come, let us try to reach one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or at Ramah.” So they passed on and went their way, and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. They turned aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gibeah. He went in and sat down in the open square of the city, but no one took them in to spend the night.
Then at evening there was an old man coming from his work in the field. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was residing in Gibeah. (The people of the place were Benjaminites.) When the old man looked up and saw the wayfarer in the open square of the city, he said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?” He answered him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to my home. Nobody has offered to take me in. We have straw and fodder for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me and the woman and the young man along with us. Your servants need nothing more.” The old man said, “Peace be to you. I will care for all your wants; only do not spend the night in the square.” So he brought him into his house and fed the donkeys; they washed their feet and ate and drank.
Gibeah’s Crime
While they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, a perverse lot, surrounded the house and started pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may have intercourse with him.” And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Since this man is my guest, do not do this vile thing. Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine; let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do whatever you want to them, but against this man do not do such a vile thing.” But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and put her out to them. They wantonly raped her and abused her all through the night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. As morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was light.
In the morning her master got up, opened the doors of the house, and when he went out to go on his way, there was the woman, his concubine, lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. “Get up,” he said to her, “we are going.” But there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey, and the man set out for his home. When he had entered his house, he took a knife, and grasping his concubine he cut her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. Then he commanded the men whom he sent, saying, “Thus shall you say to all the Israelites: Has such a thing ever happened since the day that the Israelites came up from the land of Egypt until this day? Consider it, take counsel, and speak out.”
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Judges 20:1-23
The Other Tribes Attack Benjamin
Then all the Israelites came out, from Dan to Beer-sheba, including the land of Gilead, and the congregation assembled in one body before the Lord at Mizpah. The chiefs of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers bearing arms. (Now the Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) And the Israelites said, “Tell us, how did this criminal act come about?” The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered, “I came to Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night. The lords of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, and they raped my concubine until she died. Then I took my concubine and cut her into pieces and sent her throughout the whole extent of Israel’s territory, for they have committed a vile outrage in Israel. So now, you Israelites, all of you, give your advice and counsel here.”
All the people got up as one, saying, “We will not any of us go to our tents, nor will any of us return to our houses. But now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot. We will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, to bring provisions for the troops who will go to repay Gibeah of Benjamin for all the disgrace that they have done in Israel.” So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one.
The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What crime is this that has been committed among you? Now then, hand over those scoundrels in Gibeah so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not listen to their kinsfolk, the Israelites. The Benjaminites came together out of the towns to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the Israelites. On that day the Benjaminites mustered twenty-six thousand armed men from their towns, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who mustered seven hundred picked men. Of all this force, there were seven hundred picked men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. And the Israelites, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand armed men, all of them warriors.
The Israelites proceeded to go up to Bethel, where they inquired of God, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the Benjaminites?” And the Lord answered, “Judah shall go up first.”
Then the Israelites got up in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. The Israelites went out to battle against Benjamin, and the Israelites drew up the battle line against them at Gibeah. The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and struck down on that day twenty-two thousand of the Israelites. The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until the evening, and they inquired of the Lord, “Shall we again draw near to battle against our kinsfolk the Benjaminites?” And the Lord said, “Go up against them.” The Israelites strengthened themselves and again formed the battle line in the same place where they had formed it on the first day.
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Judges 20:24-48
So the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites the second day. Benjamin moved out against them from Gibeah the second day and struck down eighteen thousand of the Israelites, all of them armed men. Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went back to Bethel and wept, sitting there before the Lord; they fasted that day until evening. Then they offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being before the Lord. And the Israelites inquired of the Lord (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, ministered before it in those days), saying, “Shall we go out once more to battle against our kinsfolk the Benjaminites, or shall we desist?” The Lord answered, “Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand.”
So Israel stationed men in ambush around Gibeah. Then the Israelites went up against the Benjaminites on the third day and set themselves in array against Gibeah as before. When the Benjaminites went out against the army, they were drawn away from the city. As before, they began to inflict casualties on the troops along the main roads, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, as well as in the open country, killing about thirty men of Israel. The Benjaminites thought, “They are being routed before us, as previously.” But the Israelites said, “Let us retreat and draw them away from the city toward the roads.” The main body of the Israelites drew back its battle line to Baal-tamar, while those Israelites who were in ambush rushed out of their place west of Geba. There came against Gibeah ten thousand picked men out of all Israel, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was close upon them.
The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and the Israelites struck down twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin that day, all of them armed.
Then the Benjaminites saw that they were defeated.
The Israelites gave ground to Benjamin because they relied on the troops in ambush that they had stationed against Gibeah. The troops in ambush rushed quickly upon Gibeah. Then they put the whole city to the sword. Now the agreement between the main body of Israel and the men in ambush was that when they sent up a cloud of smoke out of the city the main body of Israel should turn in battle. But Benjamin had begun to inflict casualties on the Israelites, killing about thirty of them, so they thought, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.” But when the cloud, a column of smoke, began to rise out of the city, the Benjaminites looked behind them — and there was the whole city going up in smoke toward the sky! Then the main body of Israel turned, and the Benjaminites were dismayed, for they saw that disaster was close upon them. Therefore they turned away from the Israelites in the direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the city were striking them down in between. Surrounding the Benjaminites, they pursued them from Nohah and trod them down as far as a place east of Gibeah. Eighteen thousand Benjaminites fell, all of them courageous fighters. When they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, five thousand of them were cut down on the main roads, and they were pursued as far as Gidom, and two thousand of them were slain. So all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand arms-bearing men, all of them courageous fighters. But six hundred turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and remained at the rock of Rimmon for four months. Meanwhile, the Israelites turned back against the Benjaminites and put them to the sword — the city, the people, the animals, and all that remained. Also the remaining towns they set on fire.
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Judges 21
The Benjaminites Saved from Extinction
Now the Israelites had sworn at Mizpah, “No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.” And the people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. They said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, why has it come to pass that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel?” On the next day, the people got up early and built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being. Then the Israelites said, “Who out of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the Lord?” For a solemn oath had been taken concerning whoever did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah, saying, “That one shall be put to death.” But the Israelites had compassion for Benjamin their kin and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel this day. What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them any of our daughters as wives?”
Then they said, “Is there anyone from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah?” It turned out that no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp, to the assembly. For when the roll was called among the people, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there. So the congregation sent twelve thousand soldiers there and commanded them, “Go, put the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead to the sword, including the women and the little ones. This is what you shall do; every male and every woman who has lain with a male you shall devote to destruction.” And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man and brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
Then the whole congregation sent word to the Benjaminites who were at the rock of Rimmon and proclaimed peace to them. Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead, but they did not suffice for them.
The people had compassion on Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. So the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since there are no women left in Benjamin?” And they said, “There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, in order that a tribe may not be blotted out from Israel. Yet we cannot give any of our daughters to them as wives.” For the Israelites had sworn, “Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin.” So they said, “Look, the yearly festival of the Lord is taking place at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem and south of Lebonah.” And they instructed the Benjaminites, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards and watch; when the young women of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and each of you carry off a wife for himself from the young women of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. Then if their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Be generous and allow us to have them, because we did not capture in battle a wife for each man. But neither did you incur guilt by giving your daughters to them.’ ” The Benjaminites did so; they took wives for each of them from the dancers whom they abducted. Then they went and returned to their territory and rebuilt the towns and lived in them. So the Israelites departed from there at that time by tribes and families, and they went out from there to their own territories.
In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.
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Ruth 1
Elimelech’s Family Goes to Moab
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
Naomi and Her Moabite Daughters-in-Law
Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. They said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
So she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said,
“Do not press me to leave you,
to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people
and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die,
and there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”
When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.
So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them,
“Call me no longer Naomi;
call me Mara,
for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
I went away full,
but the Lord has brought me back empty;
why call me Naomi
when the Lord has dealt harshly with me
and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”
So Naomi returned together with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her from the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
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Ruth 2
Ruth Meets Boaz
Now Naomi had a kinsman on her husband’s side, a prominent rich man of the family of Elimelech whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain behind someone in whose sight I may find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.” So she went. She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. As it happened, she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” They answered, “The Lord bless you.” Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “To whom does this young woman belong?” The young man who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, ‘Please, let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ So she came, and she has been on her feet from early this morning until now without resting even for a moment.”
Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother you. If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” Then she fell prostrate, with her face to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?” But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told me, how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. May the Lord reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!” Then she said, “May I continue to find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, even though I am not one of your servants.”
At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some of this bread and dip your morsel in the sour wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he heaped up for her some parched grain. She ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. When she got up to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, “Let her glean even among the standing sheaves, and do not reproach her. You must also pull out some handfuls for her from the bundles and leave them for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”
So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. She picked it up and came into the town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned. Then she took out and gave her what was left over after she herself had been satisfied. Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, saying, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.” Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a relative of ours, one of our nearest kin.” Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’ ” Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is better, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, otherwise someone might bother you in another field.” So she stayed close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests, and she lived with her mother-in-law.