Judges 20

1All the sons of Israel went out, and the congregation assembled as one man from Dan to Beersheba and the land of Gilead, to Yahweh at Mizpah.

2The chiefs of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of God's people: four hundred thousand foot soldiers who drew the sword.

3The sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah, and the sons of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this evil happen?”

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

5The men of Gibeah rose against me and surrounded the house upon me at night, plotting to kill me; they violated my concubine, and she died.

6I seized my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout every region of Israel's inheritance, for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.

7Look, all you sons of Israel, give your advice and counsel here.

8All the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, nor will any return to his house.”

9Now here is what we will do to Gibeah: advance against it by lot.

10We will take ten men from every hundred, a hundred from every thousand, and a thousand from every ten thousand throughout all the tribes of Israel, to secure provisions for the people so that when they arrive at Gibeah of Benjamin, they deal with it according to all the outrage committed in Israel.

11All the men of Israel assembled against the city, banded together as one man.

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

13Now hand over the men, the sons of Belial who are in Gibeah, that we may kill them and purge evil from Israel, but the sons of Benjamin refused to heed the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.

14The sons of Benjamin assembled from the cities to Gibeah to go out to battle against the sons of Israel.

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

16Out of all these people there were seven hundred chosen left-handed men, every one of whom could sling a stone at a hair without missing.

17The men of Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand men drawing sword; all these were men of war.

18The sons of Israel arose and went up to Bethel, asked God, "Who among the sons of Israel will go up first for us to battle against the sons of Benjamin?" and Yahweh said, "Judah first."

19The sons of Israel arose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.

20The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel drew up battle lines against them at Gibeah.

21The Benjaminites went out from Gibeah and destroyed twenty-two thousand men of Israel to the ground that day.

22The people, the men of Israel, rallied and drew up in battle formation again in the place where they had drawn up the first day.

23The sons of Israel went up and wept before Yahweh until evening, then asked him, saying, "Shall I approach battle again against the sons of Benjamin my brother?" Yahweh said, "Go up against him."

24The sons of Israel advanced against the sons of Benjamin on the second day.

25Benjamin came out to meet them from Gibeah on the second day and again destroyed eighteen thousand swordsmen of Israel to the ground.

26All Israel and all the people went up to Bethel and came there, wept and sat before Yahweh, fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Yahweh.

27The sons of Israel asked Yahweh, for the ark of God's covenant was there in those days.

28Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron stood before it in those days, saying, "Shall I go out again to fight against the sons of Benjamin my brother, or shall I stop?" Yahweh said, "Go up, for tomorrow I will give him into your hand."

29Israel set up ambushes around Gibeah.

30The sons of Israel advanced against the sons of Benjamin on the third day and drew up for battle against Gibeah, as before.

31The men of Benjamin marched out to meet the people and were lured away from the city, where they began striking down some of the people—killing about thirty Israelite men—as before along the highways, one ascending to Bethel and the other to Gibeah in the open country.

32The sons of Benjamin said, "They stand beaten before us, as at first." And the sons of Israel said, "Let us flee and draw them from the city to the highways."

33All the men of Israel arose from their place and formed ranks at Baal-tamar, while Israel's ambushers broke forth from the meadows of Gibeah.

34Ten thousand chosen men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce, but they did not know that disaster was closing in on them.

35Yahweh struck Benjamin before Israel, and the sons of Israel destroyed twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin that day, all of them swordsmen.

36The sons of Benjamin saw that they were defeated, and Israel's men gave way to Benjamin because they trusted the ambushers they had set against Gibeah.

37The ambushers hurried and rushed Gibeah; the ambush advanced and struck the whole city with the sword's edge.

38The appointed sign that the men of Israel had with the ambushers was a great pillar of smoke rising from the city.

39The men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began cutting down about thirty men of Israel, for they said, "Surely they are beaten before us, as in the first battle."

40But the signal began to rise out of the city as a pillar of smoke, and Benjamin looked behind them, and there the whole city ascended to heaven.

41The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin panicked because they saw that disaster had struck them.

42They turned before the men of Israel toward the wilderness road, but the battle pressed close upon them; and those from the cities destroyed them in their midst.

43They encircled Benjamin, chased them down easily, and trampled them opposite Gibeah toward the sunrise.

44Eighteen thousand men, all these men of valor, fell from Benjamin.

45They turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they picked off five thousand of them on the highways, pursued them closely until Gidom, and struck down two thousand men of them.

46So all who fell from Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand swordsmen—all valiant fighters.

47Six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to Rimmon's rock, and they dwelt in Rimmon's rock four months.

48The men of Israel turned back against the sons of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, from every city's men to every beast and all they found; they also set every city they found ablaze.