27 And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, (for xthe ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28 And yPhinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, zstood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the Lord said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand. 29 And Israel aset liers in wait round about Gibeah. 30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. 31 And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began †to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to ||the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel. 32 And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, bas at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways. 33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah. 34 And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: cbut they knew not that evil was near them. 35 And the Lord smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword.

36 So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah. 37 dAnd the liers in wait hasted, and erushed upon Gibeah; and the liers in wait ||drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword. 38 Now there was an appointed ||sign between the men of Israel †and the liers in wait, that they should make a great †flame with smoke rise up out of the city. 39 fAnd when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began †to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle. 40 But when the gflame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites hlooked behind them, and, behold, †the flame of the city ascended up to heaven. 41 And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil †was come upon them. 42 Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto ithe way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and them which came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them. 43 Thus they kinclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trode them down ||with ease †over against Gibeah toward the sunrising. 44 And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valour. 45 And they turned and fled toward ithe wilderness unto the rock of lRimmon: and they mgleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them. 46 So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were ntwenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour. 47 oBut six hundred men turned and fled to ithe wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months. 48 And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that †came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that †they came to.