And one of those reclining at table with Him, hearing these things, said to Him, Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

And He said to him, A certain man was making a  ¹great dinner and invited many;

And he sent his slave at the dinner hour to say to those who had been invited, Come, for all things are now ready.

And they all with one consent began to make excuses. The first said to him, I have bought a piece of land, and I need to go out and see it. I ask you, have me excused.

And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to prove them. I ask you, have me excused.

And another said, I have married a wife, and because of this I cannot come.

And the slave came up and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and told his slave, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.

And the slave said, Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.

And the master said to the slave, Go out into the roads and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.

For I tell you that none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.

And there were great crowds going along with Him, and He turned and said to them,

 ¹If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and moreover, even his own soul-life, he cannot be My disciple.

Whoever does not carry his own  ¹cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

For which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, whether he has  ¹enough to complete it?

Lest perhaps, once he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all those looking on will begin to mock him,

Saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish.

Or what king, going to engage another king in war, will not first sit down and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

Otherwise, while he is yet at a distance, he sends an envoy and asks for the terms of peace.

In the same way therefore everyone of you who does not forsake all his own possessions cannot be My disciple.

 ¹Therefore  ²salt is good; but if even the salt becomes tasteless, with what will its saltiness be restored?

It is fit neither for the land nor for the manure pile; they will throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Then all the children of Israel went out; and the assembly gathered as one man unto Jehovah at Mizpah, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead.

And the leaders of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the congregation of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen who drew the sword.

(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the children of Israel said, Tell us, How did this evil thing happen?

And the Levite, the husband of the woman who had been murdered, answered and said, I and my concubine came to Gibeah, which is in Benjamin, to spend the night.

And the  ¹men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night to get me. It was me that they intended to slay, but they humbled my concubine until she died.

Therefore I took hold of my concubine and cut her up and sent her throughout all the land of Israel's inheritance, for they have committed wickedness and folly in Israel.

Behold, all you children of Israel, give your advice and counsel here.

And all the people rose up as one man, saying, None of us will go to our tents, nor will any of us return to our houses.

But now this is the thing that we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot;

And we will take ten men per hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred per thousand, and a thousand per ten thousand, to get provisions for the people, so that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, they may deal with them according to all the folly which they have committed in Israel.

So all the men of Israel, knit together as one man, were gathered against the city.

And the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the  ¹tribe of Benjamin, saying, What is this evil thing that has happened among you?

Now therefore deliver up the worthless men who are in Gibeah, and we will kill them and put away evil from Israel. But the  ¹Benjaminites would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel.

And the children of Benjamin gathered together at Gibeah from their cities to go to battle with the children of Israel.

And the children of Benjamin were numbered on that day from the cities: twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, apart from the inhabitants of Gibeah who were numbered, seven hundred choice men.

Of all these people seven hundred choice men were left-handed; all these could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

And the men of Israel were numbered apart from Benjamin: four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all these were men of war.

And the children of Israel rose up and went up to Bethel, and they inquired of God and said, Who will go up for us first into battle with the children of Benjamin? And Jehovah said, Judah first.

So the children of Israel rose up in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.

And the men of Israel went up into battle with Benjamin. And the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah.

Then the children of Benjamin came forth from Gibeah and struck down to the ground on that day twenty-two thousand men in Israel.

And the people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves and set the battle in array again in the place where they had set it in array the first day.

Now the children of Israel had gone up and wept before Jehovah into the evening; and they had inquired of Jehovah, saying, Shall I again approach the battle with the children of Benjamin my brother? And Jehovah had said, Go up against him.

And the children of Israel drew near to the children of Benjamin on the second day.

And Benjamin went forth from Gibeah to meet them on the second day, and they struck down to the ground another eighteen thousand men among the children of Israel; all of these were ones who drew the sword.

Then all the children of Israel and all the people went up and came to Bethel. And they wept and sat there before Jehovah, and they fasted on that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Jehovah.

And the children of Israel inquired of Jehovah (for the Ark of the Covenant of God was there in those days;

And Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, Shall I again go out into battle with the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And Jehovah said, Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.

And Israel set men in ambush all around Gibeah.

And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day and set themselves in array against Gibeah as at other times.

And the children of Benjamin went out to meet the people; they were drawn away from the city. And they began to strike some of the people, about thirty men of Israel, slaying them as at other times, on the highways which lead into the open field, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah.

And the children of Benjamin said, They are stricken down before us as they were at first. And the children of Israel said, Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.

Then all the men of Israel rose up from their places and set themselves in array at Baal-tamar; and Israel's ambush left their place at Maareh-geba.

And ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel came against Gibeah. And the battle was fierce, but  ¹the children of Benjamin did not know that disaster was very near to them.

And Jehovah struck down Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin that day; all these were ones who drew the sword.

And the children of Benjamin saw that they were stricken down. Now the men of Israel had given ground to Benjamin, for they trusted in the ambush that they had set against Gibeah.

And the ambush hurried and rushed against Gibeah; and the ambush proceeded and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword.

And the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambush was that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise up from the city,

And then the men of Israel would turn into the battle. So Benjamin had begun to strike, killing about thirty men among the men of Israel; for they said, They are certainly stricken down before us as in the first battle.

But when the cloud began to go up from the city like a pillar of smoke, the Benjaminites looked behind them, and there was the whole city, going up in smoke to heaven.

And the men of Israel turned; and the men of Benjamin were dismayed, for they saw that disaster was very near to them.

Then they turned before the men of Israel into the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them, and those from the cities struck them down in between.

They surrounded the Benjaminites, chased them, and trampled them at the resting place, as far as over against Gibeah toward the rising of the sun.

And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all of these were men of valor.

And they turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, but the men of Israel gleaned five thousand of them in the highways; and they pursued after them as far as Gidom and struck two thousand of them.

So all who fell of Benjamin on that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of valor.

But six hundred men turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they dwelt at the rock of Rimmon four months.

And the men of Israel returned to the children of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city with the cattle and all that was found there; moreover all the cities that were found they set on fire.

Now the men of Israel swore in Mizpah, saying, None of us shall give his daughter to a Benjaminite as a wife.

And the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and they lifted up their voice and wept greatly.

And they said, Why, O Jehovah God of Israel, has this happened in Israel, that there is one tribe missing in Israel today?

And in the morning the people rose early and built an altar there, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

And the children of Israel said, Who did not come up into the congregation to Jehovah from all the tribes of Israel? For they had made a great oath concerning anyone who did not come up to Jehovah at Mizpah, saying, He shall surely be put to death.

And the children of Israel were grieved concerning Benjamin their brother, and they said, Today a tribe has been cut down from Israel.

What shall we do about wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by Jehovah not to give them any of our daughters as wives?

And they said, Is there anyone from the tribes of Israel who did not come to Jehovah at Mizpah? Now there was no one from Jabesh-gilead who had come to the congregation at the camp.

For when the people were numbered, there was no one from among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there.

So the assembly sent twelve thousand of the valiant there and commanded them, saying, Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, including women and children.

And this is the thing that you shall do: Every male and every woman who has lain with a male you shall  ¹utterly destroy.

And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, who had not known men by lying with a male; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which was in the land of Canaan.

And the whole assembly sent men and spoke to the children of Benjamin, who were at the rock of Rimmon; and they proclaimed peace to them.

And the Benjaminites returned at that time. And they gave them the women who had been kept alive from among the women of Jabesh-gilead; but there were not enough for them.

And the people were grieved concerning Benjamin, for Jehovah had made a breach among the tribes of Israel.

So the elders of the assembly said, What shall we do about wives for those who remain, since the women are destroyed from Benjamin?

And they said, There should be some possession for those of Benjamin who have escaped, that no tribe would be blotted out of Israel.

But we cannot give them any of our daughters as wives. For the children of Israel had sworn, saying, Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.

And they said, Behold, there is a feast of Jehovah each year in 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 commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;

And immediately when you see the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the dances, come out of the vineyards, and each of you shall catch his wife from the daughters of Shiloh; then go into the land of Benjamin.

And when their fathers or brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, Give them to us as a gift, for we did not take a wife in battle for each man, nor did you give them to them and thereby incur guilt for yourselves now.

And the children of Benjamin did so and took wives, whom they carried off, according to their number from those who danced. And they went and returned to their inheritance, and they rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them.

And the children of Israel departed from there at that time, each man to his tribe and to his family; and they went forth from there, each man to his inheritance.

In those days there was  ¹no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.