Judges
Chapter 20
1 All the Israelites came together as one group, from Dan to Beersheba including the people of Gilead, to meet with God in Mizpah.
2 The leaders of the people from all the tribes of Israel came together in the meeting, a total of 400,000 soldiers ready for battle.
3 The people of Benjamin learned that the people of Israel had gone to Mizpeh. Then the people of Israel asked, “Tell us, how did this evil happen?”
4 The Levite, the woman’s husband who was killed, replied, “I went to Gibeah in Benjamin with my concubine to stay overnight.”
5 The men of Gibeah attacked me, surrounded the house at night thinking to kill me, and they raped my concubine so that she died.
6 I took my wife who was not my first wife, cut her into parts, and sent her pieces all over Israel’s land because they did shameful and foolish things in Israel.
7 Look, you are all Israel’s children; share your advice and thoughts here.
8 All the people stood up together and said, “None of us will go to our tents or go back to our homes.”
9 But now, here’s our plan for Gibeah: we will decide by drawing lots who will attack it.
10 We will pick ten men from every hundred in all of Israel’s tribes, a hundred from every thousand, and a thousand from every ten thousand, to get food for the people, so they can act when they arrive at Gibeah in Benjamin because of the foolish things done in Israel.
11 All the men of Israel came together against the city, united as if they were one person.
12 The tribes of Israel sent people throughout the tribe of Benjamin asking, “What is this evil thing that has happened among you?”
13 Now give us the evil men of Gibeah so we can kill them and remove evil from Israel. But the tribe of Benjamin wouldn’t listen to their fellow Israelites.
14 The people of Benjamin came from the cities to Gibeah to fight the people of Israel.
15 At that time, 26,000 soldiers from Benjamin’s cities were counted, not including 700 select men from Gibeah.
16 In this group there were seven hundred skilled left-handed men; each could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.
17 The men of Israel, not including Benjamin, totaled 400,000 swordsmen, all ready for battle.
18 The Israelites got up, went to God’s house, asked God for advice, and said, “Who among us should go first to fight the people of Benjamin?” And God answered, “Judah should go first.”
19 The Israelites got up in the morning and set up camp near Gibeah.
20 The Israelite men went to fight against Benjamin and lined up in battle formation at Gibeah.
21 The Benjamin people came out of Gibeah and killed twenty-two thousand Israelite men that day.
22 The Israelite soldiers cheered themselves up and lined up for battle again in the same place as they did the first time.
23 The Israelites cried before God until evening, then asked God for advice, saying, “Should I fight against my brother Benjamin again?” And God said, “Fight against them.”
24 On the second day, the Israelites approached the Benjaminites.
25 Benjamin attacked them from Gibeah for the second time and killed eighteen thousand Israelite men who had swords.
26 All the Israelites and the people went to God’s house, cried, sat before God, and fasted all day until evening. They also gave burnt and peace offerings to God.
27 The children of Israel asked God, because the ark of God’s covenant was there at that time.
28 Phinehas, who was Eleazar’s son and Aaron’s grandson, asked at that time, “Should I go fight the Benjamites, my relatives, again, or stop?” And God said, “Go, for tomorrow I will give them to you.”
29 Israel placed ambushers all around Gibeah.
30 On the third day, the Israelites advanced against the Benjamites and prepared for battle near Gibeah, just like before.
31 The Benjamin kids came out to fight the people, got lured away from the city, and started to attack and kill the people on the roads, like they did before. One road led to God’s house and another to Gibeah in the open fields, and they killed about thirty Israelite men.
32 The people of Benjamin said, “They are beaten like before.” But the people of Israel said, “Let’s run away and lure them from the city to the roads.”
33 All the men of Israel got up, got ready for battle at Baaltamar, and Israel’s ambushers came out of their hiding spots, from the fields of Gibeah.
34 Ten thousand picked men from Israel attacked Gibeah, and the fight was fierce, but they didn’t realize that danger was close.
35 God struck down Benjamin in front of Israel, and on that day, the Israelites killed 25,100 Benjamite men who fought with swords.
36 The children of Benjamin realized they were beaten because the Israelite men stepped aside for them, trusting the ambushers they had placed near Gibeah.
37 The ambushers hurried and attacked Gibeah; the ambushers moved in and struck down the whole city with their swords.
38 The men of Israel and those hiding had a signal: when they saw a big smoke fire from the city, they would attack.
39 When the Israelite men pulled back in the fight, the Benjaminites started to strike and kill about thirty Israelite men, because they thought, “Surely we’re beating them as before.”
40 But when fire started to rise from the city with a column of smoke, the people of Benjamin looked back and saw the city’s fire going up to the sky.
41 When the Israelite men turned back, the Benjamites were shocked because they realized disaster had struck them.
42 So they ran away from the Israelites toward the desert path, but the battle caught up with them; and they destroyed those who came from the cities right among them.
43 So they surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily crushed them near Gibeah as the sun was rising.
44 Eighteen thousand men from Benjamin died; they were all brave soldiers.
45 They turned and ran to the desert, to Rimmon’s rock. They killed five thousand men on the roads and chased them to Gidom, killing two thousand more.
46 On that day, 25,000 fighting men from Benjamin died; all were brave warriors.
47 Six hundred men turned and ran to the wilderness to the rock Rimmon, and stayed at the rock Rimmon for four months.
48 The Israelite men attacked the Benjamites again, killing them with swords, including the men of every city, animals, and everything else they found. They also burned down all the cities they went to.