1Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh. 2And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword. 3(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness? 4And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.20.4 the Levite: Heb. the man the Levite 5And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead.20.5 forced: Heb. humbled 6And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. 7Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel.
8¶ And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house. 9But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it; 10And we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel. 11So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.20.11 knit…: Heb. fellows
12¶ And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you? 13Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel: 14But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel. 15And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men. 16Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss. 17And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.
18¶ And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up first. 19And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. 20And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah. 21And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men. 22And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day. 23(And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.) 24And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. 25And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.
26¶ Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. 27And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand. 29And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah. 30And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. 31And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.20.31 to smite…: Heb. to smite of the people wounded as at, etc20.31 the house…: or, Beth-el 32And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways. 33And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah. 34And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near them. 35And the LORD smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword. 36So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah. 37And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the liers in wait drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword.20.37 drew…: or, made a long sound with the trumpet 38Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city.20.38 sign: or, time20.38 and: Heb. with20.38 flame: Heb. elevation 39And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle.20.39 to smite…: Heb. to smite the wounded 40But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the flame of the city ascended up to heaven.20.40 the flame of: Heb. the whole consumption of 41And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them.20.41 was come…: Heb. touched them 42Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and them which came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them. 43Thus they inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trode them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sunrising.20.43 with ease…: or, from Menuchah, etc20.43 over…: Heb. unto over against 44And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valour. 45And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them. 46So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour. 47But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months. 48And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.20.48 came to hand: Heb. was found20.48 they came…: Heb. were found
The Israelites Punish the Tribe of Benjamin
1Then all the Israelites came out. They came from the whole land between Dan and Beersheba. They also came from the land of Gilead. All of them gathered together in front of the Lord at Mizpah. 2The leaders of all the tribes of Israel came. They took their places among the people of God gathered together. There were 400,000 men carrying swords. 3The tribe of Benjamin heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. The Israelites said, “Tell us how this awful thing happened.”
4So the Levite spoke. He was the husband of the woman who had been murdered. He said, “I and my concubine went to Gibeah in Benjamin. We spent the night there. 5During the night the men of Gibeah came after me. They surrounded the house. They were planning to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. 6I took my concubine and cut her into pieces. I sent one piece to each part of Israel’s territory. I did it because the men of Gibeah had done a very terrible thing in Israel. 7All you men of Israel, speak up now. Tell me what you have decided to do.”
8All the men got up together. They said, “None of us will go home. Not one of us will return to his house. 9Here is what we’ll do to Gibeah. We’ll cast lots to tell us how to attack the city. 10We’ll take ten men out of every 100 from all the tribes of Israel. We’ll take 100 from every 1,000. We’ll take 1,000 from every 10,000. The men we take will get supplies for the army. Then the army will go to Gibeah in Benjamin. They’ll give Gibeah exactly what they should get because of the terrible thing they did in Israel.” 11So all the men of Israel came together to fight against the city.
12The tribes of Israel sent people to carry a message through the whole tribe of Benjamin. They said, “What about this awful crime that was committed among you? 13Hand over to us those evil men of Gibeah. We’ll put them to death. In that way we’ll get rid of those evil people.”
But the people of Benjamin wouldn’t listen to the other Israelites. 14They came together at Gibeah from their towns. They came to fight against the other Israelites. 15Right away the people of Benjamin gathered together 26,000 men from their towns. They were carrying swords. These men were added to the 700 capable young men from Gibeah. 16Among all these men there were 700 who were left-handed. Each of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.
17Israel gathered 400,000 men together. They were carrying swords. All of them were trained for battle. That number didn’t include the tribe of Benjamin.
18The Israelites went up to Bethel. There they asked God, “Who should go up first and fight against the people of Benjamin?”
The Lord answered, “The tribe of Judah will go first.”
19The next morning the Israelites got up. They set up camp near Gibeah. 20The Israelites went out to fight against the men of Benjamin. They took up their battle positions against them at Gibeah. 21The men of Benjamin came out of Gibeah. They killed 22,000 Israelites on the field of battle that day. 22But the Israelites cheered one another on. They again took up their positions in the places where they had been the first day. 23The Israelites went and wept in front of the Lord until evening. They asked the Lord, “Should we go up again to fight against the men of Benjamin? They are our fellow Israelites.”
The Lord answered, “Go up and fight against them.”
24The Israelites came near the men of Benjamin on the second day. 25The men of Benjamin came out from Gibeah to oppose them. That time they killed 18,000 more Israelites. All the men who died had been carrying swords.
26Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel. They sat there and wept in front of the Lord. They didn’t eat anything that day until evening. Then they brought burnt offerings and friendship offerings to the Lord. 27Again the Israelites spoke to the Lord. In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there. 28Phinehas was serving as priest at the ark. He was the son of Eleazar. Eleazar was the son of Aaron. The Israelites asked, “Should we go up again to fight against the men of Benjamin? They are our fellow Israelites.”
The Lord answered, “Go. Tomorrow I will hand them over to you.”
29Then Israel hid some men and had them wait all around Gibeah. 30They went up to fight against the men of Benjamin on the third day. They took up their positions against Gibeah, just as they had done before. 31The men of Benjamin came out to fight against them. They were drawn away from the city. They began to wound and kill the Israelites just as they had done before. About 30 men fell in battle. They fell in the open fields and on the roads. One of the roads led to Bethel. The other led to Gibeah. 32The men of Benjamin said, “We’re winning the battle over them, just as we did before.” But the men of Israel said, “Let’s pull back. Let’s draw them away from the city to the roads.”
33All the men of Israel moved away from their places. They took up new battle positions at Baal Tamar. The men who had been hiding charged out. They came from west of Gibeah. 34Then 10,000 of Israel’s capable young men attacked Gibeah. The men of Benjamin didn’t realize they were about to be destroyed. The fighting was very heavy. 35The Lord helped Israel win the battle over Benjamin. On that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 men of Benjamin. All the men who died had been carrying swords. 36Then the men of Benjamin saw that they had lost the battle.
The men of Israel had moved away from their positions in front of Benjamin. They had depended on the men they had hidden near Gibeah. 37Suddenly those men who had been hiding rushed into Gibeah. They spread out. Then they killed everyone in the city with their swords. 38The Israelites had made a plan with those who had been hiding. They had told them to send up a large cloud of smoke from the city. 39Then the Israelites would turn around and attack.
The men of Benjamin had begun to wound and kill the men of Israel. They had struck down about 30 of them. They had said, “We’re winning the battle over them, just as we did the first time.” 40But a large cloud of smoke began to go up from the city. The men of Benjamin turned around. They saw the whole city going up in smoke. 41Then the Israelites turned around and attacked them. The men of Benjamin were terrified. They realized they were going to be destroyed. 42So they ran away from the men of Israel. They ran toward the desert. But they couldn’t escape the battle. Other Israelites came out of the towns. There they struck down the men of Benjamin. 43Here’s how it happened. The Israelites had surrounded them. They had chased them and easily caught up with them east of Gibeah. 44So 18,000 men of Benjamin fell in battle. All of them were brave fighters. 45Some men of Benjamin turned back. They ran toward the desert to the rock of Rimmon. As they did, the Israelites struck down 5,000 of them along the roads. They kept chasing the men of Benjamin all the way to Gidom. Along the way they struck down 2,000 more.
46On that day 25,000 men of Benjamin fell in battle. They had been carrying swords. All of them were brave fighters. 47But 600 of them turned back. They ran into the desert to the rock of Rimmon. They stayed there for four months. 48The men of Israel went back to Benjamin. In all the towns they killed the people with their swords. They even killed the animals. So they killed everything they found. They set on fire all the towns they came to.
