Judges20

¹Then all the people of Israel came out , from Dan to Beersheba , including the land of Gilead , and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at Mizpah .

²And the chiefs of all the people , of all the tribes of Israel , presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God , 400,000 men on foot that drew the sword .

³(Now the people of Benjamin heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah .) And the people of Israel said , Tell us, how did this evil happen ?

⁴And the Levite , the husband of the woman who was murdered , answered and said , I came to Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin , I and my concubine , to spend the night .

⁵And the leaders of Gibeah rose against me and surrounded the house against me by night . They meant to kill me, and they violated my concubine , and she is dead .

⁶So I took hold of my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel , for they have committed abomination and outrage in Israel .

⁷Behold , you people of Israel , all of you, give your advice and counsel here .

⁸And all the people arose as one man , saying , None of us will go to his tent , and none of us will return to his house .

⁹But now this is what we will do to Gibeah : we will go up against it by lot ,

¹⁰and we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel , and a hundred of a thousand , and a thousand of ten thousand , to bring provisions for the people , that when they come they may repay Gibeah of Benjamin , for all the outrage that they have committed in Israel .

¹¹So all the men of Israel gathered against the city , united as one man .

¹²And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin , saying , What evil is this that has taken place among you?

¹³Now therefore give up the men , the worthless fellows in Gibeah , that we may put them to death and purge evil from Israel . But the Benjaminites would not listen to the voice of their brothers , the people of Israel .

¹⁴Then the people of Benjamin came together out of the cities to Gibeah to go out to battle against the people of Israel .

¹⁵And the people of Benjamin mustered out of their cities on that day 26,000 men who drew the sword , besides the inhabitants of Gibeah , who mustered 700 chosen men .

¹⁶Among all these were 700 chosen men who were left-handed ; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss .

¹⁷And the men of Israel , apart from Benjamin , mustered 400,000 men who drew the sword ; all these were men of war .

¹⁸The people of Israel arose and went up to Bethel and inquired of God , Who shall go up first for us to fight against the people of Benjamin ? And the Lord said , Judah shall go up first .

¹⁹Then the people of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah .

²⁰And the men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin , and the men of Israel drew up the battle line against them at Gibeah .

²¹The people of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and destroyed on that day 22,000 men of the Israelites .

²²But the people , the men of Israel , took courage , and again formed the battle line in the same place where they had formed it on the first day .

²³And the people of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until the evening . And they inquired of the Lord, Shall we again draw near to fight against our brothers , the people of Benjamin ? And the Lord said , Go up against them.

²⁴So the people of Israel came near against the people of Benjamin the second day .

²⁵And Benjamin went against them out of Gibeah the second day , and destroyed 18,000 men of the people of Israel . All these were men who drew the sword .

²⁶Then all the people of Israel , the whole army , went up and came to Bethel and wept . They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening , and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

²⁷And the people of Israel inquired of the Lord (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days ,

²⁸and Phinehas the son of Eleazar , son of Aaron , ministered before it in those days ), saying , Shall we go out once more to battle against our brothers , the people of Benjamin , or shall we cease ? And the Lord said , Go up , for tomorrow I will give them into your hand .

²⁹So Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah .

³⁰And the people of Israel went up against the people of Benjamin on the third day and set themselves in array against Gibeah , as at other times .

³¹And the people of Benjamin went out against the people and were drawn away from the city . And as at other times they began to strike and kill some of the people in the highways , one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah , and in the open country , about thirty men of Israel .

³²And the people of Benjamin said , They are routed before us, as at the first . But the people of Israel said , Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways .

³³And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place and set themselves in array at Baal-tamar , and the men of Israel who were in ambush rushed out of their place from Maareh-geba .

³⁴And there came against Gibeah 10,000 chosen men out of all Israel , and the battle was hard , but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was close upon them.

³⁵And the Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel , and the people of Israel destroyed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day . All these were men who drew the sword .

³⁶So the people of Benjamin saw that they were defeated . The men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin , because they trusted the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah .

³⁷Then the men in ambush hurried and rushed against Gibeah ; the men in ambush moved out and struck all the city with the edge of the sword .

³⁸Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in the main ambush was that when they made a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city

³⁹the men of Israel should turn in battle . Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about thirty men of Israel . They said , Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle .

⁴⁰But when the signal began to rise out of the city in a column of smoke , the Benjaminites looked behind them, and behold , the whole of the city went up in smoke to heaven .

⁴¹Then the men of Israel turned , and the men of Benjamin were dismayed , for they saw that disaster was close upon them.

⁴²Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness , but the battle overtook them. And those who came out of the cities were destroying them in their midst .

⁴³Surrounding the Benjaminites , they pursued them and trod them down from Nohah as far as opposite Gibeah on the east .

⁴⁴Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell , all of them men of valor .

⁴⁵And they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon . Five thousand men of them were cut down in the highways . And they were pursued hard to Gidom , and 2,000 men of them were struck down .

⁴⁶So all who fell that day of Benjamin were 25,000 men who drew the sword , all of them men of valor .

⁴⁷But 600 men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and remained at the rock of Rimmon four months .

⁴⁸And the men of Israel turned back against the people of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword , the city , men and beasts and all that they found . And all the towns that they found they set on fire .