He had thirty sons. He arranged for thirty of his daughters to be married outside his extended family,<n id="1" /> and he arranged for thirty young women to be brought from outside as wives for his sons.<n id="2" /> Ibzan<n id="3" /> led<n id="4" /> Israel for seven years;

Look, you will conceive and have a son.<n id="1" /> You must never cut his hair,<n id="2" /> for the child will be dedicated to God<n id="3" /> from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power<n id="4" /> of the Philistines.&#8221;p>

His brothers and all his family<n id="1" /> went down and brought him back.<n id="2" /> They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led<n id="3" /> Israel for twenty years.p>

They said to him, &#8220;Shut up! Put your hand over your mouth and come with us! You can be our adviser<n id="1" /> and priest. Wouldn&#8217;t it be better to be a priest for a whole Israelite tribe than for just one man&#8217;s family?&#8221;<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite<n id="1" /> living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine<n id="2" /> from Bethlehem<n id="3" /> in Judah.

Everyone who saw the sight<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since<n id="2" /> the Israelites left the land of Egypt!<n id="3" /> Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">The Israelites went up to Bethel<n id="1" /> and asked God,<n id="2" /> &#8220;Who should lead the charge against the Benjaminites?&#8221;<n id="3" /> The <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8220;Judah should lead.&#8221;

The Israelites went up and wept before the <sc>Lordsc> until evening. They asked the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;Should we<n id="1" /> again march out to fight<n id="2" /> the Benjaminites, our brothers?&#8221;<n id="3" /> The <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8220;Attack them!&#8221;<n id="4" />

The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So all the Israelites, the whole army,<n id="1" /> went up to<n id="2" /> Bethel.<n id="3" /> They wept and sat there before the <sc>Lordsc>; they did not eat anything<n id="4" /> that day until evening. They offered up burnt sacrifices and tokens of peace<n id="5" /> to the <sc>Lordsc>.

The Benjaminites attacked<n id="1" /> the army, leaving the city unguarded.<n id="2" /> They began to strike down their enemy<n id="3" /> just as they had done before. On the main roads (one leads to Bethel,<n id="4" /> the other to Gibeah) and in the field, they struck down<n id="5" /> about thirty Israelites.

The Israelites returned to the Benjaminite towns<n id="1" /> and put the sword to them. They wiped out the cities,<n id="2" /> the animals, and everything they could find. They set fire to every city in their path.<n id="3" />p>

So they asked, &#8220;Who from all the Israelite tribes did not assemble before the <sc>Lordsc> at Mizpah?&#8221; Now it just so happened no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the gathering.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The Israelites again did evil in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s sight.<n id="1" /> They worshiped<n id="2" /> the Baals and the Ashtars,<n id="3" /> as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon,<n id="4" /> Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines.<n id="5" /> They abandoned the <sc>Lordsc> and did not worship<n id="6" /> him.