The Departure of Phinehas

1 At that time Phinehas also lay down to die, and the Lord said to him, “You have passed the 12 years that were ordained for all men. Now arise and go from here and dwell on Mount Danaben, and stay there many years, and I will command my eagle, and he will feed you there, and you will not come down to men again until the time comes and you are tested in that time. Then you will shut the heaven, and at your word it will be opened.⁠a After that you will be lifted up into the place where those before you were lifted up, and you will be there until I remember the world. Then I will bring you, and you will taste what death is.” 2 Phinehas went up and did all that the Lord commanded him. Now in the days when he appointed him to be priest, he anointed him in Silo. 3 At that time, when he went up, the children of Israel, when they kept the passover, commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go up and take wives for yourselves by force, because we cannot give you our daughters, for we swore in the time of our anger; and it cannot be that a tribe should perish out of Israel.” And the children of Benjamin went up and seized wives for themselves and built Gabaon for themselves and began to dwell there. 4 And while the children of Israel were at rest in the meantime, they had no prince in those days, and every man did what was right in his own eyes. 5 These are the commandments and the judgments and the testimonies and the revelations that were in the days of the judges of Israel, before a king reigned over them.