Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors

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.

      21Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying: 'There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.' ²And the people came to Beth-el, and sat there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore. ³And they said: 'O Lord, the God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?' ⁴And it came to pass on the morrow that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. ⁵And the children of Israel said: 'Who is 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.' ⁶And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said: 'There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. ⁷How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?' ⁸And 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 Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. ⁹For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there. ¹⁰And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying: 'Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones. ¹¹And this is the thing that ye shall do: ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.' ¹²And 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.

      ¹³And the whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace unto them. ¹⁴And Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead; and yet so they sufficed them not. ¹⁵And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

      ¹⁶Then the elders of the congregation said: 'How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?' ¹⁷And they said: 'They that are escaped must be as an inheritance for Benjamin, that a tribe be not blotted out from Israel. ¹⁸Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters.' For the children of Israel had sworn, saying: 'Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.' ¹⁹And they said: 'Behold, there is the feast of the Lord from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.' ²⁰And they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying: 'Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; ²¹and see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh 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. ²²And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come to strive with us, that we will say unto them: Grant them graciously unto us; because we took not for each man of them his wife in battle; neither did ye give them unto them, that ye should now be guilty.' ²³And the children of Benjamin did so, 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. ²⁴And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance. ²⁵In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

      1. That is, Weepers.

      2. That is, The Lord is peace.

      3. That is, Let Baal contend.

      4. That is, The villages of Jair.

      5. That is, The hill of the jawbone.

      6. That is, The spring of him that called.

      7. Heb. מ^נ‎שה, with נ suspended, indicating an earlier reading, Moses.

      8. Heb. Geba.

      שמואל א

      FIRST SAMUEL (Shmû’ēl)

       Table of Contents

      1Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of the hill-country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ²And he had two wives: the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. ³And this man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there priests unto the Lord. ⁴And it came to pass upon a day, when Elkanah sacrificed, that he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions; ⁵but unto Hannah he gave a double portion; for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb. ⁶And her rival vexed her sore, to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb. ⁷And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she vexed her; therefore she wept, and would not eat. ⁸And Elkanah her husband said unto her: 'Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?' ⁹So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk—now Eli the priest sat upon his seat by the door-post of the temple of the Lord; ¹⁰and she was in bitterness of soul—and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. ¹¹And she vowed a vow, and said: 'O Lord of hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of Thy handmaid, and remember me, and not forget Thy handmaid, but wilt give unto Thy handmaid a man-child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.' ¹²And it came to pass, as she prayed long before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. ¹³Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice could not be heard; therefore, Eli thought she had been drunken. ¹⁴And Eli said unto her: 'How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.' ¹⁵And Hannah answered and said: 'No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I poured out my soul before the Lord. ¹⁶Count not thy handmaid for a wicked woman: for out of the abundance of my complaint and my vexation have I spoken hitherto.' ¹⁷Then Eli answered and said: 'Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thy petition that thou hast asked of Him.' ¹⁸And she said: 'Let thy servant find favour in thy sight.' So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. ¹⁹And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah; and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰And it came to pass, when the time was come about, that Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she called his name Samuel: 'because I have asked him of the Lord.'

      ²¹And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. ²²But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband: 'Until the child be weaned, when I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide for ever.' ²³And Elkanah her husband said unto her: