Judges 20

20 ¹All the Israelites came out, the assembly gathering as one man, from Dan to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, before our Father at Mizpah. ²The leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, took their place in the assembly of our Father's people—400,000 swordsmen on foot. ³The Benjaminites heard the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. The Israelites said, "Tell us, how did this evil happen?"

⁴The Levite, husband of the murdered woman, answered, "I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. ⁵The men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house at night, meaning to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. ⁶Then I took my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout Israel's inheritance, because they committed a shameful outrage in Israel. ⁷Look, all of you Israelites—give your decision and counsel here and now."

⁸All the people rose as one, saying, "None of us will go to his tent; none of us will return to his house. ⁹Now this is what we'll do to Gibeah: we'll attack it by lot. ¹⁰From every tribe of Israel we'll take ten men of 100, one hundred of 1,000, 1,000 of 10,000, to get provisions for the troops going to Gibeah of Benjamin, to repay all the outrage it did in Israel." ¹¹So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one. ¹²The tribes of Israel sent men throughout Benjamin's tribe, asking, "What evil is this that happened among you? ¹³Now hand over the worthless men in Gibeah, so we may put them to death and remove the evil from Israel." But the Benjaminites would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the Israelites.

¹⁴Instead the Benjamites gathered from their towns to Gibeah, to go fight the Israelites. ¹⁵That day Benjamin mustered 26,000 swordsmen from their towns, plus 700 chosen men from Gibeah's residents. ¹⁶Among all these troops were 700 chosen left-handed men, each able to sling a stone at a hair and not miss. ¹⁷The men of Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered 400,000 swordsmen, every one a warrior.

¹⁸The Israelites set out and went up to Bethel and inquired of our Father, "Who of us should go up first to fight against the Benjaminites?" And our Father said, "Judah will go up first."

¹⁹So the Israelites rose in the morning and camped near Gibeah. ²⁰Israel's men went out to battle Benjamin and formed their lines against them at Gibeah. ²¹The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and cut down 22,000 Israelites on the field that day. ²²But Israel's army took courage and again formed their battle line where they had stationed themselves the first day.

²³The Israelites went up, wept before our Father until evening, and asked, "Will we fight our brothers the Benjaminites again?" And our Father said, "Go up against them."

²⁴So the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites on the second day. ²⁵Benjamin came out from Gibeah against them the second day and cut down another 18,000 Israelites, all armed with swords.

²⁶Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel and sat there weeping before our Father. They fasted till evening that day and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before him. ²⁷The Israelites asked our Father. (In those days the ark of the covenant of our Father was there,

²⁸and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, served before it.) They asked, "Will we go out again to fight our brothers the Benjamites, or stop?" Our Father replied, "Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand."

²⁹Then Israel set men in ambush all around Gibeah. ³⁰On the third day the Israelites marched against the Benjaminites and took positions against Gibeah as before. ³¹The Benjaminites came out to meet them and were drawn from the city. As before, they began striking down the people, killing about thirty men of Israel in the open country and on the roads, one going up to Bethel, the other to Gibeah.

³²The Benjaminites said, "We're routing them like before." But Israel had said, "Let's flee and draw them from the city to the roads."

³³All Israel's men rose from their places and formed up at Baal-tamar, while Israel's ambush burst from its place west of Geba. ³⁴10,000 of Israel's finest advanced against Gibeah, and the fighting was fierce; but the Benjaminites did not realize disaster was closing in on them. ³⁵Our Father defeated Benjamin before Israel; that day Israel struck down 25,100 men of Benjamin, all armed with swords. ³⁶The Benjaminites saw they were beaten. Israel's men gave ground to Benjamin, trusting the ambush they had set against Gibeah. ³⁷The ambush rushed suddenly against Gibeah; they spread out and struck the whole city with the sword. ³⁸Israel's men had set a signal with the ambush: a great cloud of smoke rising from the city. ³⁹The men of Israel would turn in the battle. Benjamin had begun striking them down, killing about thirty, and thought, "Surely they're beaten before us as in the first battle." ⁴⁰When the smoke column began rising from the city, the Benjaminites looked back—and the whole city was going up in smoke toward the sky. ⁴¹The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin panicked, seeing that disaster had reached them. ⁴²So they turned before Israel's men toward the wilderness, but the battle caught up with them, and those from the towns cut them down in the middle of the fighting. ⁴³They surrounded the Benjaminites, chased them, and overtook them at their resting place east of Gibeah. ⁴⁴18,000 Benjaminites fell, all of them valiant men. ⁴⁵The rest fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, but Israel cut down 5,000 on the roads and pursued them to Gidom, striking down 2,000 more. ⁴⁶So all the Benjaminites who fell that day were 25,000 swordsmen, all of them valiant men. ⁴⁷But 600 men fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, staying there four months. ⁴⁸The men of Israel turned back on the Benjaminites and struck them with the sword—the whole town, the people, the animals, everything they found. They also burned every town in their path.