[Verse 1] A traveler reached Gibeah at sundown, but no door opened in the street, An old man brought the strangers home and set a table under shelter. Then violent men surrounded night and demanded evil at the door, By morning one abused and broken woman lay across the threshold. [Pre-Chorus] Twelve pieces crossed the nation, And horror called the tribes to war. [Chorus] There was no king in Israel, Every man did what was right within his eyes. Brother lifted sword at brother, And grief could not make crooked judgment wise. When covenant becomes self-will, A people tears its own heart apart. [Verse 2] Benjamin would not surrender those who shamed the town of Gibeah, Judah rose and fell in thousands, then a second army bled. Israel wept before the ark until the third day brought the victory, Smoke rose high above the city; six hundred men escaped the field. [Bridge] Then the victors mourned a missing tribe but bound themselves with foolish oaths, Jabesh-gilead paid in blood, and women carried others' cost. At Shiloh dancers lost their safety to preserve a tribe by force, And the book closed without triumph, only every man his own law. [Final Chorus] There was no king in Israel, Every man did what was right within his eyes. Brother lifted sword at brother, And grief could not make crooked judgment wise. When covenant becomes self-will, A people tears its own heart apart. [Outro] No victory healed the ending, And no human way made it right.