Judges 19:1

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.

For Judah prevailed above his brothers, and from him came the prince; but the birthright was Joseph’s)—

Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a container of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem).”

You shall not do all the things that we do here today, every man whatever is right in his own eyes;

According to Yahweh’s commandment, they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnathserah in the hill country of Ephraim; and he built the city, and lived there.

In those days there was no king in Israel. In those days the tribe of the Danites sought an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day, their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.

Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons. The man was an elderly old man in the days of Saul.

The king went out, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house.

But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.

All these were the sons of David, in addition to the sons of the concubines; and Tamar was their sister.

Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”

The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!”

God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.

Out of Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from the city.”

He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away. He shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

The man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah, to live where he could find a place, and he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he traveled.

and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease?” Yahweh said, “Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand.”

The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. They came into the country of Moab and lived there.

All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which both built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem.

In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led Israel out and in. Yahweh said to you, ‘You will be shepherd of my people Israel, and you will be prince over Israel.’ ”

Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.”

Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.

He will rule them with a rod of iron, shattering them like clay pots; as I also have received of my Father:

Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.

While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.

Eleazar Aaron’s son took one of the daughters of Putiel as his wife; and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families.

The children of Israel sent to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest.

Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.

The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill country, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley;

So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them.

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.

Behold, an old man came from his work out of the field at evening. Now the man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites.

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.

In the days when the judges judged, there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to live in the country of Moab with his wife and his two sons.

For you did this secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’ ”

Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water poured on them from the sky. She allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night.

Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash.

In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. Yahweh your God said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.’ ”

He also walked in the ways of Ahab’s house, because his mother was his counselor in acting wickedly.

For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy offspring have mixed themselves with the peoples of the lands. Yes, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass.”

“All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, know, that whoever, whether man or woman, comes to the king into the inner court without being called, there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king might hold out the golden scepter, that he may live. I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”

(for the length of my life is still in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils);

Save your people, and bless your inheritance. Be their shepherd also, and bear them up forever.

I will extol you, Yahweh, for you have raised me up, and have not made my foes to rejoice over me.

They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame.

There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity, for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.

Yahweh says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”

They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is written through the prophet,

Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship do righteousness and iniquity have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

for the Lamb who is in the middle of the throne shepherds them and leads them to springs of life-giving waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

but Abraham gave gifts to the sons of Abraham’s concubines. While he still lived, he sent them away from Isaac his son, eastward, to the east country.

Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem).

They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.

When he had come, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he led them.

There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.

The children of Dan sent five men of their family from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land!” They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there.

They passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

Now 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.

He passed through the hill country of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they didn’t find them. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and they weren’t there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they didn’t find them.

Now Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah; and Ishbosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone in to my father’s concubine?”

David took more concubines and wives for himself out of Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron; and more sons and daughters were born to David.

So they spread a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

Joab came into the house to the king, and said, “Today you have shamed the faces of all your servants, who today have saved your life, and the lives of your sons and of your daughters, and the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines;

David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody, and provided them with sustenance, but didn’t go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.

These are their names: Ben Hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. His wives turned his heart away.

Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

Jehoshaphat lived at Jerusalem; and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and brought them back to Yahweh, the God of their fathers.

In the evening she went, and on the next day she returned into the second women’s house, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who kept the concubines. She came in to the king no more, unless the king delighted in her, and she was called by name.

For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.

Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of God’s house which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, drank from them.

Hear, you mountains, Yahweh’s controversy, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.

Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

‘You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah: for out of you shall come a governor, who shall shepherd my people, Israel.’ ”

But he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable.