Bible in a Year.

On the ninety-second day, Judges 9-11 shows us Abimelech's ambition and the consequences of his actions, highlighting God's justice. Ruth 4 concludes Ruth's story, showing divine providence and her inclusion in David's lineage. Psalm 137 expresses the pain of exile and longing for Jerusalem, reminding us of God's faithfulness even in times of suffering.

Chapter 9

1. And Abimelech the son of Jerobaal went to Sichem to his mother's brethren and spoke to them, and to all the kindred of his mother's father, saying:

2. Speak to all the men of Sichem: whether is better for you that seventy men all the sons of Jerobaal should rule over you, or that one man should rule over you? And withal consider that I am your bone, and your flesh.

3. And his mother's brethren spoke of him to all the men of Sichem, all these words, and they inclined their hearts after Abimelech, saying: He is our brother:

4. And they gave him seventy weight of silver out of the temple of Baalberith: wherewith he hired to himself men that were needy, and vagabonds, and they followed him.

5. And he came to his father's house in Ephra, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerobaal, seventy men, upon one stone: and there remained only Joatham the youngest son of Jerobaal, who was hidden.

6. And all the men of Sichem were gathered together, and all the families of the city of Mello: and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak that stood in Sichem.

7. This being told to Joatham, he went and stood on the top of mount Garizim: and lifting up his voice, he cried, and said: Hear me, ye men of Sichem, so may God hear you.

8. The trees went to anoint a king over them: and they said to the olive tree: Reign thou over us.

9. And it answered: Can I leave my fatness, which both gods and men make use of, to come to be promoted among the trees?

10. And the trees said to the fig tree: Come thou and reign over us.

11. And it answered them: Can I leave my sweetness, and my delicious fruits, and go to be promoted among the other trees?

12. And the trees said to the vine: Come thou and reign over us.

13. And it answered them: Can I forsake my wine, that cheereth God and men, and be promoted among the other trees?

14. And all the trees said to the bramble: Come thou and reign over us.

15. And it answered them: If indeed you mean to make me king, come ye and rest under my shadow: but if you mean it not, let fire come out from the bramble, and devour the cedars of Libanus.

16. Now therefore if you have done well, and without sin in appointing Abimelech king over you, and have dealt well with Jerobaal, and with his house, and have made a suitable return for the benefits of him, who fought for you,

17. And exposed his life to dangers, to deliver you from the hands of Madian,

18. And you are now risen up against my father's house, and have killed his sons seventy men upon one stone, and have made Abimelech the son of his handmaid king over the inhabitants of Sichem, because he is your brother:

19. If therefore you have dealt well, and without fault with Jerobaal, and his house, rejoice ye this day in Abimelech, and may he rejoice in you.

20. But if unjustly: let fire come out from him, and consume the inhabitants of Sichem, and the town of Mello: and let fire come out from the men of Sichem, and from the town of Mello, and devour Abimelech.

21. And when he had said thus he fled, and went into Bera: and dwelt there for fear of Abimelech his brother.

22. So Abimelech reigned over Israel for three years.

23. And the Lord sent a very evil spirit between Abimelech and the inhabitants of Sichem: who began to detest him,

24. And to leave the crime of the murder of the seventy sons of Jerobaal, and the shedding of their blood upon Abimelech their brother, and upon the rest of the princes of the Sichemites, who aided him.

25. And they set an ambush against him on the top of the mountains: and while they waited for his coming, they committed robberies, taking spoils of all that passed by: and it was told Abimelech.

26. And Gaal the son of Obed came with his brethren, and went over to Sichem. And the inhabitants of Sichem taking courage at his coming,

27. Went out into the fields, wasting the vineyards, and treading down the grapes: and singing and dancing they went into the temple of their god, and in their banquets and cups they cursed Abimelech.

28. And Gaal the son of Obed cried: Who is Abimelech, and what is Sichem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerobaal, and hath made Zebul his servant ruler over the men of Emor the father of Sichem? Why then shall we serve him?

29. Would to God that some man would put this people under my hand, that I might remove Abimelech out of the way. And it was said to Abimelech: Gather together the multitude of an army, and come.

30. For Zebul the ruler of the city, hearing the words of Gaal, the son of Obed, was very angry,

31. And sent messengers privately to Abimelech, saying: Behold Gaal the son of Obed is come into Sichem with his brethren, and endeavoureth to set the city against thee.

32. Arise therefore in the night with the people that is with thee and he hid in the field:

33. And betimes in the morning at sun rising set upon the city. And when he shall come out against thee with his people, do to him what thou shalt be able.

34. Abimelech therefore arose with all his army by night, and laid ambushes near Sichem in four places.

35. And Gaal the son of Obed went out, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city. And Abimelech rose up, and all his army with him from the places of the ambushes.

36. And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul: Behold a multitude cometh down from the mountains. And he answered him: Thou seest the shadows of the mountains as if they were the heads of men, and this is thy mistake.

37. Again Gaal said: Behold there cometh people down from the middle of the land, and one troop cometh by the way that looketh towards the oak.

38. And Zebul said to him: Where is now thy mouth wherewith thou saidst? Who is Abimelech that we should serve him? Is not this the people which thou didst despise? Go out, and fight against him.

39. So Gaal went out in the sight of the people of Sichem, and fought against Abimelech,

40. Who chased and put him to flight, and drove him to the city: and many were slain of his people, even to the gate of the city:

41. And Abimelech sat down in Ruma: but Zebul drove Gaal, and his companions out of the city, and would not suffer them to abide in it.

42. So the day following the people went out into the field. And it was told Abimelech.

43. And he took his army, and divided it into three companies, and laid ambushes in the fields. And seeing that the people came out of the city, he arose and set upon them,

44. With his own company, assaulting and besieging the city: whilst the two other companies chased the enemies that were scattered about the field.

45. And Abimelech assaulted the city all that day: and took it, and killed the inhabitants thereof, and demolished it, so that he sowed salt in it.

46. And when they who dwelt in the tower of Sichem had heard this, they went into the temple of their god Berith where they had made a covenant with him, and from thence the place had taken its name, and it was exceeding strong.

47. Abimelech also hearing that the men of the tower of Sichem were gathered together,

48. Went up into mount Selmon he and all his people with him: and taking an axe, he cut down the bough of a tree, and laying it on his shoulder and carrying it, he said to his companions: What you see me do, do you out of hand.

49. So they cut down boughs from the trees, every man as fast as he could, and followed their leader. And surrounding the fort they set it on fire: and so it came to pass that with the smoke and with the fire a thousand persons were killed, men and women together, of the inhabitants of the tower of Sichem.

50. Then Abimelech departing from thence came to the town of Thebes, which he surrounded and besieged with his army.

51. And there was in the midst of the city a high tower, to which both the men and the women were fled together, and all the princes of the city, and having shut and strongly barred the gate, they stood upon the battlements of the tower to defend themselves.

52. And Abimelech coming near the tower, fought stoutly: and approaching to the gate, endeavoured to set fire to it:

53. And behold a certain woman casting a piece of a millstone from above, dashed it against the head of Abimelech, and broke his skull.

54. And he called hastily to his armourbearer, and said to him: Draw thy sword, and kill me: lest it should be said that I was slain by a woman. He did as he was commanded, and slew him.

55. And when he was dead, all the men of Israel that were with him, returned to their homes.

56. And God repaid the evil, that Abimelech had done against his father, killing his seventy brethren.

57. The Sichemites also were rewarded for what they had done, and the curse of Joatham the son of Jerobaal came upon them.

Chapter 10

1. After Abimelech there arose a ruler in Israel, Thola son of Phua the uncle of Abimelech, a man of Issachar, who dwelt in Samir of mount Ephraim:

2. And he judged Israel three and twenty years, and he died and was buried in Samir.

3. To him succeeded Jair the Galaadite, who judged Israel for two and twenty years.

4. Having thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and were princes of thirty cities, which from his name were called Havoth Jair, that is, the towns of Jair, until this present day in the land of Galaad.

5. And Jair died: and was buried in the place which was called Camon.

6. But the children of Israel, adding new sins to their old ones, did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served idols, Baalim and Astaroth, and the gods of Syria and of Sidon and of Moab and of the children of Ammon and of the Philistines: and they left the Lord, and did not serve him.

7. And the Lord being angry with them, delivered them into the hands of the Philistines and of the children of Ammon.

8. And they were afflicted, and grievously oppressed for eighteen years, all they that dwelt beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorrhite, who is in Galaad:

9. Insomuch that the children of Ammon passing over the Jordan, wasted Juda and Benjamin and Ephraim: and Israel was distressed exceedingly.

10. And they cried to the Lord, and said: We have sinned against thee, because we have forsaken the Lord our God, and have served Baalim.

11. And the Lord said to them: Did not the Egyptians and the Amorrhites, and the children of Ammon and the Philistines,

12. The Sidonians also and Amalec and Chanaan oppress you, and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand?

13. And yet you have forsaken me, and have worshipped strange gods: therefore I will deliver you no more:

14. Go and call upon the gods which you have chosen: let them deliver you in the time of distress.

15. And the children of Israel said to the Lord: We have sinned, do thou unto us whatsoever pleaseth thee: only deliver us this time.

16. And saying these things, they cast away out of their coasts all the idols of strange gods and served the Lord their God: and he was touched with their miseries.

17. And the children of Ammon shouting together, pitched their tents in Galaad: against whom the children of Israel assembled themselves together and camped in Maspha.

18. And the princes of Galaad said one to another: Whosoever of us shall first begin to fight against the children of Ammon, he shall be the leader of the people of Galaad.

Chapter 11

1. There was at that time Jephte the Galaadite, a most valiant man and a warrior, the son of a woman that was a harlot, and his father was Galaad.

2. Now Galaad had a wife of whom he had sons: who after they were grown up, thrust out Jephte, saying: Thou canst not inherit in the house of our father, because thou art born of another mother.

3. Then he fled and avoided them and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered to him needy men, and robbers, and they followed him as their prince.

4. In those days the children of Ammon made war against Israel.

5. And as they pressed hard upon them, the ancients of Galaad went to fetch Jephte out of the land of Tob to help them:

6. And they said to him: Come thou and be our prince, and fight against the children of Ammon.

7. And he answered them: Are not you the men that hated me, and cast me out of my father's house, and now you are come to me constrained by necessity?

8. And the princes of Galaad said to Jephte: For this cause we are now come to thee, that thou mayst go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be head over all the inhabitants of Galaad.

9. Jephte also said to them: If you be come to me sincerely, that I should fight for you against the children of Ammon, and the Lord shall deliver them into my band, shall I be your prince?

10. They answered him: The Lord who heareth these things, he himself is mediator and witness that we will do as we have promised.

11. Jephte therefore went with the princes of Galaad, and all the people made him their prince. And Jephte spoke all his words before the Lord in Maspha.

12. And he sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, to say in his name, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me, to waste my land?

13. And he answered them: I Because Israel took away my land when he came up out of Egypt, from the confines of the Arnon unto the Jaboc and the Jordan: now therefore restore the same peaceably to me.

14. And Jephte again sent word by them, and commanded them to say to the king of Ammon:

15. Thus saith Jephte: Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:

16. But when they came up out of Egypt, he walked through the desert to the Red Sea and came into Cades.

17. And he sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying: Suffer me to pass through thy land. But he would not condescend to his request. He sent also to the king of Moab, who likewise refused to give him passage. He abode therefore in Cades,

18. And went round the land of Edom at the side, and the land of Moab: and came over against the east coast of the land of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon: and he would not enter the bounds of Moab.

19. So Israel sent messengers to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, who dwelt in Hesebon, and they said to him: Suffer me to pass through thy land to the river.

20. But he also despising the words of Israel, suffered him not to pass through his borders: but gathering an infinite multitude, went out against him to Jasa, and made strong opposition.

21. And the Lord delivered him with all his army into the hands of Israel, and he slew him, and possessed all the land of the Amorrhite the inhabitant of that country,

22. And all the coasts thereof from the Arnon to the Jaboc, and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

23. So the Lord the God of Israel destroyed the Amorrhite, his people of Israel fighting against him, and wilt thou now possess this land?

24. Are not those things which thy god Chamos possesseth, due to thee by right? But what the Lord our God hath obtained by conquest, shall be our possession:

25. Unless perhaps thou art better than Balac the son of Sephor king of Moab: or canst shew that he strove against Israel and fought against him,

26. Whereas he hath dwelt in Hesebon, and the villages thereof, and in Aroer, and its villages, and in all the cities near the Jordan, for three hundred years. Why have you for so long a time attempted nothing about this claim?

27. Therefore I do not trespass against thee, but thou wrongest me by declaring an unjust war against me. The Lord be judge and decide this day between Israel and the children of Ammon.

28. And the king of the children of Ammon would not hearken to the words of Jephte, which he sent him by the messengers.

29. Therefore the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephte, and going round Galaad, and Manasses, and Maspha of Galaad, and passing over from thence to the children of Ammon,

30. He made a vow to the Lord, saying: If thou wilt deliver the children of Ammon into my hands,

31. Whosoever shall first come forth out of the doors of my house, and shall meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, the same will I offer a holocaust to the Lord.

32. And Jephte passed over to the children of Ammon, to fight against them: and the Lord delivered them into his hands.

33. And he smote them from Aroer till you come to Mennith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel, which is set with vineyards, with a very great slaughter: and the children of Ammon were humbled by the children of Israel.

34. And when Jephte returned into Maspha to his house, his only daughter met him with timbrels and with dances: for he had no other children.

35. And when he saw her, he rent his garments, and said: Alas! my daughter, thou hast deceived me, and thou thyself art deceived: for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can do no other thing.

36. And she answered him: My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth to the Lord, do unto me whatsoever thou hast promised, since the victory hath been granted to thee, and revenge of thy enemies.

37. And she said to her father: Grant me only this which I desire: Let me go, that I may go about the mountains for two months, and may bewail my virginity with my companions.

38. And he answered her: Go. And he sent her away for two months. And when she was gone with her comrades and companions, she mourned her virginity in the mountains.

39. And the two months being expired, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed, and she knew no man. From thence came a fashion in Israel, and a custom has been kept:

40. That from year to year the daughters of Israel assemble together, and lament the daughter of Jephte the Galaadite for four days.

1. Then Booz went up to the gate, and sat there. And when he had seen the kinsman going by, of whom he had spoken before, he said to him, calling him by his name: Turn aside for a little while, and sit down here. He turned aside, and sat down.

2. And Booz taking ten men of the ancients of the city, said to them: Sit ye down here.

3. They sat down, and he spoke to the kinsman: Noemi, who is returned from the country of Moab, will sell a parcel of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech.

4. I would have thee to understand this, and would tell thee before all that sit here, and before the ancients of my people. If thou wilt take possession of it by the right of kindred: buy it and possess it: but if it please thee not, tell me so, that I may know what I have to do. For there is no near kinsman besides thee, who art first, and me, who am second. But he answered: I will buy the field.

5. And Booz said to him: When thou shalt buy the field at the woman's hand, thou must take also Ruth the Moabitess, who was the wife of the deceased: to raise up the name of thy kinsman in his inheritance.

6. He answered: I yield up my right of next akin: for I must not cut off the posterity of my own family. Do thou make use of my privilege, which I profess I do willingly forego.

7. Now this in former times was the manner in Israel between kinsmen, that if at any time one yielded his right to another: that the grant might be sure, the man put off his shoe, and gave it to his neighhour; this was a testimony of cession of right in Israel.

8. So Booz said to his kinsman: Put off thy shoe. And immediately he took it off from his foot.

9. And he said to the ancients and to all the people: You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and Chelion's, and Mahalon's, of the hand of Noemi:

10. And have taken to wife Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahalon, to raise up the name of the deceased in his inheritance lest his name be cut off, from among his family and his brethren and his people. You, I say, are witnesses of this thing.

11. Then all the people that were in the gate, and the ancients answered: We are witnesses: The Lord make this woman who cometh into thy house, like Rachel, and Lia, who built up the house of Israel: that she may be an example of virtue in Ephrata, and may have a famous name in Bethlehem:

12. And that the house may be, as the house of Phares, whom Thamar bore unto Juda, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman.

13. Booz therefore took Ruth, and married her: and went in unto her, and the Lord gave her to conceive and to bear a son.

14. And the women said to Noemi: Blessed be the Lord, who hath not suffered thy family to want a successor, that his name should be preserved in Israel.

15. And thou shouldst have one to comfort thy soul, and cherish thy old age. For he is born of thy daughter in law: who loveth thee: and is much better to thee, than if thou hadst seven sons.

16. And Noemi taking the child laid it in her bosom, and she carried it, and was a nurse unto it.

17. And the women her neighbours, congratulating with her and saying: There is a son born to Noemi: called his name Obed: he is the father of Isai, the father of David.

18. These are the generations of Phares: Phares begot Esron,

19. Esron begot Aram, Aram begot Aminadab,

20. Aminadab begot Nahasson, Nahasson begot Salmon,

21. Salmon begot Booz, Booz begot Obed,

22. Obed begot Isai, Isai begot David.

1. Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when we remembered Sion:

2. On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments.

3. For there they that led us into captivity required of us the words of songs. And they that carried us away, said: Sing ye to us a hymn of the songs of Sion.

4. How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?

5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten.

6. Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee: If I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy.

7. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem: Who say: Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

8. O daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed shall he be who shall repay thee thy payment which thou hast paid us.

9. Blessed be he that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock.