Judges 20

¹Then all the children of Israel took up arms, and the people came together like one man, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and the land of Gilead, before the Lord at Mizpah.

²And the chiefs of the people, out of all the tribes of Israel, took their places in the meeting of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen armed with swords.

³(Now the children of Benjamin had word that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the children of Israel said, Make clear how this evil thing took place.

⁴Then the Levite, the husband of the dead woman, said in answer, I came to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin, I and my servant-wife, for the purpose of stopping there for the night.

⁵And the townsmen of Gibeah came together against me, going round the house on all sides by night; it was their purpose to put me to death, and my servant-wife was violently used by them and is dead.

⁶So I took her, cutting her into parts which I sent through all the country of the heritage of Israel: for they have done an act of shame in Israel.

⁷Here you all are, you children of Israel; give now your suggestions about what is to be done.

⁸Then all the people got up as one man and said, Not one of us will go to his tent or go back to his house:

⁹But this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by the decision of the Lord;

¹⁰And we will take ten men out of every hundred, through all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, a thousand out of every ten thousand, to get food for the people, so that they may give to Gibeah of Benjamin the right punishment for the act of shame they have done in Israel.

¹¹So all the men of Israel were banded together against the town, united like one man.

¹²And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin saying, What is this evil which has been done among you?

¹³Now give up those good-for-nothing persons in Gibeah so that we may put them to death, clearing away the evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not give ear to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel.

¹⁴And the children of Benjamin came together from all their towns to Gibeah, to go to war with the children of Israel.

¹⁵And the children of Benjamin who came that day from the towns were twenty-six thousand men armed with swords, in addition to the people of Gibeah, numbering seven hundred of the best fighting-men,

¹⁶Who were left-handed, able to send a stone at a hair without error.

¹⁷And the men of Israel, other than Benjamin, were four hundred thousand in number, all armed with swords; they were all men of war.

¹⁸And they got up and went up to Beth-el to get directions from God, and the children of Israel said, Who is to be the first to go up to the fight against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah is to go up first.

¹⁹So the children of Israel got up in the morning and put themselves in position against Gibeah.

²⁰And the men of Israel went out to war against Benjamin (and the men of Israel put their forces in fighting order against them at Gibeah).

²¹Then the children of Benjamin came out from Gibeah, cutting down twenty-two thousand of the Israelites that day.

²²But the people, the men of Israel, taking heart again, put their forces in order and took up the same position as on the first day.

²³Now the children of Israel went up, weeping before the Lord till evening, requesting the Lord and saying, Am I to go forward again to the fight against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the Lord said, Go up against him.

²⁴So the children of Israel went forward against the children of Benjamin the second day.

²⁵And the second day Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah, cutting down eighteen thousand men of the children of Israel, all swordsmen.

²⁶Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up to Beth-el, weeping and waiting there before the Lord, going without food all day till evening, and offering burned offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord.

²⁷And the children of Israel made request to the Lord, (for the ark of the agreement of the Lord was there in those days,

²⁸And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, was in his place before it,) and said, Am I still to go on with the fight against the children of Benjamin my brother, or am I to give it up? And the Lord said, Go on; for tomorrow I will give him into your hands.

²⁹So Israel put men secretly all round Gibeah to make a surprise attack on it.

³⁰And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in fighting order against Gibeah as before.

³¹And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, moving away from the town; and as before, at their first attack, they put to death about thirty men of Israel on the highways, of which one goes up to Beth-el and the other to Gibeah, and in the open country.

³²And the children of Benjamin said, They are giving way before us as at first. But the children of Israel said, Let us go in flight and get them away from the town, into the highways.

³³So all the men of Israel got up and put themselves in fighting order at Baal-tamar: and those who had been waiting secretly to make a surprise attack came rushing out of their place on the west of Geba.

³⁴And they came in front of Gibeah, ten thousand of the best men in all Israel, and the fighting became more violent; but the children of Benjamin were not conscious that evil was coming on them.

³⁵Then the Lord sent sudden fear on Benjamin before Israel; and that day the children of Israel put to death twenty-five thousand, one hundred men of Benjamin, all of them swordsmen.

³⁶So the children of Benjamin saw that they were overcome: and the men of Israel had given way before Benjamin, putting their faith in the watchers who were to make the surprise attack on Gibeah.

³⁷And the watchers, rushing on Gibeah and overrunning it, put all the town to the sword without mercy.

³⁸Now the sign fixed between the men of Israel and those making the surprise attack was that when they made a pillar of smoke go up from the town,

³⁹The men of Israel were to make a turn about in the fight. And Benjamin had overcome and put to death about thirty of the men of Israel, and were saying, Certainly they are falling back before us as in the first fight.

⁴⁰Then the sign went up out of the town in the pillar of smoke, and the Benjamites, turning back, saw all the town going up in smoke to heaven.

⁴¹And the men of Israel had made a turn about, and the men of Benjamin were overcome with fear, for they saw that evil had overtaken them.

⁴²So turning their backs on the men of Israel, they went in the direction of the waste land; but the fight overtook them; and those who came out of the town were heading them off and putting them to the sword.

⁴³And crushing Benjamin down, they went after them, driving them from Nohah as far as the east side of Gibeah.

⁴⁴Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin came to their death, all strong men of war.

⁴⁵And turning, they went in flight to the rock of Rimmon in the waste land: and on the highways five thousand of them were cut off by the men of Israel, who, pushing on hard after them to Geba, put to death two thousand more.

⁴⁶So twenty-five thousand of the swordsmen of Benjamin came to their end that day, all strong men of war.

⁴⁷But six hundred men, turning back, went in flight to the rock of Rimmon in the waste land, and were living on the rock of Rimmon for four months.

⁴⁸And the men of Israel, turning again against the children of Benjamin, put to the sword without mercy all the towns and the cattle and everything there was, burning every town which came into their hands.

Judges 20

¹Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to the Lord at Mizpah.

²The leaders 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 who drew sword.

³(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The children of Israel said, "Tell us, how did this wickedness happen?"

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

⁵The men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, and they raped my concubine, and she is dead.

⁶I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed wickedness and disgrace in Israel.

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

⁸All the people arose as one man, saying, "None of us will go to his tent, neither will any of us return to his house.

⁹But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot;

¹⁰and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to get food for the people, that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, they may do to it according to all the disgrace that they have committed in Israel."

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

¹²The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, "What wickedness is this that has happened among you?

¹³Now therefore deliver up the men, the wicked men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel." But Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel.

¹⁴The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

¹⁵The children of Benjamin were numbered on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

¹⁶Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; everyone could sling stones at a hair and not miss.

¹⁷The men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men who drew sword: all these were men of war.

¹⁸The children of Israel arose, and went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God; and they said, "Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin?" The Lord said, "Judah first."

¹⁹The children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah.

²⁰The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah.

²¹The children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites on that day Twenty-two thousand men.

²²The people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and set the battle again in array in the place where they set themselves in array the first day.

²³The children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening; and they asked of the Lord, saying, "Shall I again draw near to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?" The Lord said, "Go up against him."

²⁴The children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.

²⁵Benjamin 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.

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

²⁷The children of Israel asked 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), "Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease?" The Lord said, "Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand."

²⁹Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah.

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

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

³²The children of Benjamin said, "They are defeated before us, as previously." But the children of Israel said, "Let us flee, and draw them away from the city to the highways."

³³All the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at Baal Tamar. And the men of Israel in ambush rushed out of their place, even out of Maareh Geba.

³⁴There came over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was severe; but they didn't know that disaster was close upon them.

³⁵The Lord struck Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men: all armed with swords.

³⁶So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated; for the men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin, because they trusted the ambushers whom they had set against Gibeah.

³⁷The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; and the ambushers drew themselves along, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.

³⁸Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambushers was that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.

³⁹The men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, "Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle."

⁴⁰But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and behold, the whole city went up in smoke into the sky.

⁴¹The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified; for they saw that disaster had come on them.

⁴²Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in its midst.

⁴³They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and overtook them opposite Gibeah toward the east.

⁴⁴There fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valor.

⁴⁵They turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon: and they killed on the highways five thousand men, and followed hard after them to Gidom, and struck down two thousand men.

⁴⁶So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand swordsmen; all these were valiant fighters.

⁴⁷But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and stayed in the rock of Rimmon four months.

⁴⁸The men of Israel turned again on the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the livestock, and all that they found: moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.