permanent home, so they sent five able men from their various clans to explore; and they said to them, 'Go, explore the land.' So they came to the house of Micah, in the highlands of Ephraim, and passed the night there. When they were near Micah's house they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they stopped there and said to him, 'Who brought you here and what are you doing in this place, and what is your business here?' He said to them, 'Micah has done so and so for me, and he has hired me to be his priest.' They said to him, ‘Ask of God that we may know whether the expedition on which we are going will be successful?' The priest said to them, 'Go and you will succeed; your expedition has God's approval.'

Then the five men went on and reached Laish and found the people there living in security, as do the Sidonians, undisturbed and not suspecting any danger, for there was no one in the land who has authority to restrain them, and they were far from the Sidonians and had nothing to do with any one else.

When the five men came back to their clansmen at Zorah and Eshtaol, they said to them, 'What is your report?' They said, 'Come, let us go up against them; we have seen the land and it is very fertile, and you are here sitting idle! Go without delay and occupy the land.' So six hundred men of the clan of the Danites fully armed set out from Zorah and Eshtaol. They went from there to the highlands of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.

Then the five men who had gone to explore the country of Laish spoke up and said to their clansmen, 'Do you know that in this house there are a priestly robe, used for consulting Jehovah, household gods, and a carved and molten image? Therefore decide what you will do.'

So they stopped and went to Micah's house where the young Levite lived, and gave him a friendly greeting. Meanwhile the six hundred Danites fully armed stood at the entrance of the gate. But the five men who had gone to explore the land went in and took the carved image, the priest's robe, the household gods, and the molten image, while the priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred armed

men.

When the five men went into Micah's house and took these things, the priest said to them, 'What are you doing?' They replied, ‘Keep still, say nothing; go with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest to one man's household, or to be a priest to a tribe and a clan in Israel?' So the priest was glad, and he took the priest's robe and the household gods and went with them; and they set out, putting the little children, the cattle, and the goods in front of them.

After they had gone some distance from the house of Micah, his neighbors gathered together and overtook the Danites. But when they shouted to the Danites, they turned and said to Micah, 'What is the matter with you, that you are out with such a crowd?' He cried, 'You have taken away my gods which I made and the priest and have gone off, and what is left to me? And now you ask me, "What is the matter with you?" But the Danites said to him, 'Do not speak with such a loud voice, for fear that some hot-headed fellows might fall upon you, and you lose your life and the lives of your household!' Then the Danites went on their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he went back home. Thus they took that which Micah had made and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people

living quietly and not suspecting danger, and slaughtered them and burned the city. There was no one to deliver them, for it was far from Sidon, and they had nothing to do with any one else. It was in the valley which belongs to Beth-rehob. The Danites then rebuilt the city and lived in it and called the city Dan; but its earlier name was Laish.

The Danites set up for themselves the carved image; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his descendants were priests to the tribe of the Danites down to the time when the land was stripped of its inhabitants.

RUTH

A HEBREW IDYL

68. NAOMI'S FORTITUDE AND RUTH'S DEVOTION

Now during the days of the judges, there was once a famine in the land; and a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah took his wife and two sons to live in the territory of Moab. His name was Elimelech and his wife's Naomi, and his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. After they had been living in Moab for some time, Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women named Orpah and Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, Mahlon and Chilion both died, and Naomi was left a childless widow.

So she set out with her daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab, for she had heard that Jehovah had remembered his people and given them food. As they were setting out on the journey to Judah, Naomi said to her daughters-in-law, 'Go, return each of you to the home of your mother. May Jehovah be kind to you, as you have been kind to the dead and to me. Jehovah grant that each of you may find peace and happiness in the house of a new husband.'

Then she kissed them; but they began to weep aloud and said to her, 'No, we will return with you to your people.' But Naomi said, ‘Go back, my daughters; why should you go with me? Can I still bear sons who might become your husbands? Go back, my daughters, go your own way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I should say, "I have hope,"

even if I should have a husband to-night and should bear sons, would you wait for them until they were grown up? Would you remain single for them? No, my daughters! My heart grieves for you, for Jehovah has sent me adversity.' Then they again wept aloud, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her.

Naomi said, 'See, your sister-in-law is going back to her own people and to her own gods; go along with her!' But Ruth answered, 'Do not urge me to leave you or to go back, for I will go where you go, and I will stay wherever you stay; your people shall be my people, and your God my God; I will die where you die, and be buried there. May Jehovah bring a curse upon me, if anything but death separate you and me.' When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she ceased urging her to return.

So they journeyed on until they came to Bethlehem. Their arrival stirred the whole town, and the women said, 'Is this Naomi?' But she said to them, 'Do not call me Naomi [Sweetness]: call me Mara [Bitterness], for the Almighty has given me a bitter lot. I had plenty when I left, but Jehovah has brought me back empty-handed. Why should you call me Naomi, now that Jehovah has afflicted me, and the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me?' So Naomi and Ruth returned from Moab; and they reached Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Now Naomi was related through her husband to a very wealthy man of the family of Elimelech named Boaz. Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, 'Let me now go into the fields and glean the ears of grain after