Judges 20

1 And all the children of Israel went out, and the gathering was called together as one man, from Dan to Beersheba and the land of Gilead, to the Lord at Mizpah. 2 And all the tribes of Israel took their stand before the Lord in the assembly of the people of God: four hundred thousand men on foot who drew the sword. 3 And the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah. And the children of Israel came and said, “Tell us, where did this evil happen?”

4 And the Levite, the husband of the woman who had been killed, answered and said, “I and my concubine came to Gibeah of Benjamin to spend the night. 5 And the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house by night, against me. They meant to kill me, and they brought my concubine low, and she died. 6 And I took hold of my concubine and cut her up limb by limb and sent the pieces through every border of the inheritance of the children of Israel, because they have done *zema* and disgrace in Israel. [a] 7 Look, all of you are children of Israel. Give your word and your counsel among yourselves here.” [b]

8 And all the people rose up as one man, saying, “Not one of us will go off to his tent, and not one of us will turn back to his house. 9 And now this is the thing that will be done to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot, 10 But we will take ten men out of a hundred for all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to take provisions and to bring them to Gibeah of Benjamin, to do to it for all the disgrace it has done in Israel.” 11 And every man of Israel was gathered to the city as one man.

12 And the tribes of Israel sent men through the whole tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this evil that has happened among you? 13 Now then, give up the men, the sons of lawless men, who are in Gibeah, and we will put them to death and clear the evil out of Israel.” But the children of Benjamin would not consent to listen to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel. 14 And the children of Benjamin gathered from their cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

15 And the children of Benjamin were counted that day out of their cities: twenty-three thousand men who drew the sword, besides those living in Gibeah, who were counted as seven hundred chosen men [c] 16 out of all the people, men who used both hands alike. All of these could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. 17 And the men of Israel were counted, apart from Benjamin: four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of battle.

18 And they rose up and went up to Bethel and asked of God; and the children of Israel said, “Who will go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin?” And the Lord said, “Judah will go up first, as leader.” 19 And the children of Israel rose up in the morning and camped against Gibeah. 20 And every man of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and they engaged them at Gibeah. 21 And the children of Benjamin came out from Gibeah and destroyed in Israel that day twenty-two thousand men, down to the ground.

22 And the men of Israel took heart and again drew up for battle in the place where they had engaged on the first day. 23 And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and asked of the Lord, saying, “Shall we go near again to battle against the children of Benjamin our brothers?” And the Lord said, “Go up against them.” 24 And the children of Israel came against the children of Benjamin on the second day. 25 And the children of Benjamin came out from Gibeah to meet them on the second day, and destroyed of the children of Israel another eighteen thousand men, down to the ground; all of these drew the sword.

26 And all the children of Israel went up, and all the people, and came to Bethel; and they wept and sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening, and offered up whole burnt offerings and complete offerings before the Lord — 27 for the ark of the covenant of the Lord God was there, 28 and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, stood before it in those days. And the children of Israel asked of the Lord, saying, “Shall we go out yet again to battle against the children of Benjamin our brothers, or shall we hold back?” And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands.” [d]

29 And the children of Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah. 30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day and engaged Gibeah as they had before. 31 And the children of Benjamin came out to meet the people and were drawn away from the city, and they began to strike men of the people down wounded, as they had before, on the roads — one of them goes up to Bethel and one to Gibeah in the field — about thirty men of Israel. 32 And the children of Benjamin said, “They are falling before us as at the first.” But the children of Israel said, “Let us run, and draw them away from the city into the roads.” And they did so.

33 And every man rose up out of his place, and they engaged at Baal-tamar; and the ambush of Israel came up out of its place, from Maaragabe. [e] 34 And ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel came against Gibeah, and the fighting was heavy; and they did not know that harm was coming on them. 35 And the Lord struck Benjamin down before the children of Israel, and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men; all of these drew the sword. [f]

36 And the children of Benjamin saw that they were beaten. And the men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin, because they were relying on the ambush they had set against Gibeah. 37 And when they drew back, the ambush moved and spread out against Gibeah; and the whole ambush poured out, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword. 38 And the children of Israel had a signal agreed with the ambush in the fighting: that they should send up a smoke signal from the city. 39 And the children of Israel saw that the ambush had taken Gibeah first, and they stood firm in the battle line. And Benjamin had begun to strike men of Israel down wounded, about thirty men, because they said, “They are falling before us again, as in the first battle.” 40 And the signal went up more and more over the city, like a pillar of smoke; and Benjamin looked behind him, and there was the destruction of the city going up to the sky.

41 And the men of Israel turned back, and the men of Benjamin hurried away, because they saw that evil had come upon them. 42 And they looked back before the children of Israel toward the road to the wilderness and fled; but the battle overtook them, and those from the cities destroyed them in their midst. 43 And they cut Benjamin down and chased him from Nua, close at his heels, as far as opposite Gibeah, toward the sunrise. 44 And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all of these were men of strength.

45 And the rest looked back and fled into the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon; and the children of Israel gleaned five thousand men of them, and the children of Israel went down after them as far as Gedan and struck down two thousand men of them. 46 And all who fell of Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of strength. 47 And the rest looked back and fled into the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon — six hundred men — and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon four months. 48 And the children of Israel turned back to the children of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, from the city of Methla to the cattle, and everything that was found in all the cities; and the cities they found they burned with fire.