¹All the people of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and from Gilead came to Mizpah. The congregation stood united in the presence of the Lord. ²The leaders of all Israel’s tribes took their places in the congregation of God’s people. There were 400,000 foot soldiers with swords. ³The people of Benjamin heard that Israel had come to Mizpah.

The people of Israel said, “Tell us how such an evil thing could happen.”

⁴The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered, “My concubine^aand I went to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. ⁵The citizens of Gibeah came to attack me. They surrounded the house ⸤where I was staying⸥ that night. They intended to kill me, but instead, they raped my concubine until she died. ⁶So I took my concubine and cut her into pieces. Then I sent the pieces throughout the territory of Israel. I did this because the citizens of Gibeah did this perverted and godless thing in Israel. ⁷All you people of Israel, tell me what you think. Give me your advice right now!”

⁸All the people stood united, saying, “None of us will go to his tent or return to his house. ⁹This is what we’ll do to Gibeah. We’ll decide by lot who should attack it.¹⁰We’ll take one-tenth^cof all the men from the tribes of Israel to get supplies for the troops. When the troops go to Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin they can punish the citizens of Gibeah for the godless thing they did in Israel.” ¹¹So all the men of Israel assembled. They stood united against the city.

¹²The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin. They asked, “How could such an evil thing happen among you? ¹³Now hand over those worthless men in Gibeah. We must put them to death to rid ourselves of this kind of evil in Israel.”

But the men of Benjamin refused to listen to the men of Israel. ¹⁴So the men of Benjamin went from their towns and assembled at Gibeah to go to war with the men of Israel. ¹⁵That day 26,000 men armed with swords came from Benjamin’s cities and organized for battle along with 700 of Gibeah’s best men. ¹⁶Out of all these troops, the best 700 were left-handed. Each could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

¹⁷The men of Israel (Benjamin not included) totaled 400,000 soldiers armed with swords.

¹⁸The men of Israel went to Bethel. They asked God, “Who will go first to fight Benjamin?”

The Lord answered, “Judah will go first.”

¹⁹The Israelites got up early in the morning and camped at Gibeah. ²⁰So the men of Israel went to war with the men of Benjamin. The Israelites formed their battle line facing Gibeah. ²¹That day the men of Benjamin came out from Gibeah. They slaughtered 22,000 of Israel’s men.

²²But Israel’s troops got reinforcements. They formed their battle line where they had formed it on the first day. ²³The Israelites went and cried in the presence of the Lord until evening. They asked the Lord, “Should we continue to wage war against our close relatives, the men of Benjamin?”

The Lord answered, “Go fight them!”

²⁴On the second day the Israelite troops advanced against Benjamin. ²⁵Benjamin went out from Gibeah to meet them. This time they slaughtered 18,000 men from Israel who were armed with swords. ²⁶Then all the men of Israel and all the troops went to Bethel. They sat there and cried in the presence of the Lord and fasted that day until evening. Then they sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord.

²⁷In those days the ark of God’s promise was at Bethel. ²⁸(Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron, served in front of it.) So the people of Israel asked the Lord, “Should we continue to wage war against our close relatives, the men of Benjamin? Or should we stop?”

The Lord answered, “Go! Tomorrow I will hand them over to you.”

²⁹Then Israel placed troops in ambush around Gibeah. ³⁰On the third day the men of Israel went to fight the men of Benjamin. They formed their battle line facing Gibeah as they did before. ³¹The men of Benjamin went out to attack Israel’s troops and were led away from the city. They started to inflict casualties as before. They killed about 30 men from Israel in the open country and on the roads to Bethel and Gibeah. ³²The men of Benjamin shouted, “They’re defeated as before!”

But the men of Israel had said, “Let’s flee in order to lead them from the city to the roads.” ³³So the men of Israel left their positions. They formed their battle line at Baal Tamar. Meanwhile, those waiting in ambush rushed from their position to the west of Gibeah. ³⁴Then 10,000 of Israel’s best men attacked Gibeah. The battle was fierce. But Benjamin’s men didn’t realize their own evil was about to overtake them. ³⁵So the Lord defeated them in front of Israel. On that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 men from Benjamin who were armed with swords. ³⁶Then the men of Benjamin realized they were defeated.

The Israelites had allowed the men of Benjamin to take back some ground. The Israelites relied on those waiting in ambush near Gibeah. ³⁷The men in ambush quickly charged toward Gibeah. They spread out in the city and killed everyone. ³⁸The men of Israel had arranged with those waiting in ambush that they would make a big column of smoke rise from the city as a signal. ³⁹Then the men of Israel would turn around in the battle.

The men of Benjamin had already killed about 30 men of Israel. They even said, “Israel is completely defeated, just like in the first battle.”

⁴⁰But when the column of smoke started to rise from the city, the men of Benjamin turned around and saw the whole city going up in smoke. ⁴¹Then the men of Israel turned around, and the men of Benjamin panicked. They realized that their evil had overtaken them. ⁴²They turned in front of Israel toward the road to the desert. But the battle caught up with the men of Benjamin. Israel slaughtered whoever came out of the cities on the road to the desert. ⁴³They closed in on the men of Benjamin and pursued them without stopping. They overtook them east of Gibeah. ⁴⁴There were 18,000 experienced men from Benjamin who died in battle. ⁴⁵The others turned and fled into the desert to Rimmon Rock. But the men of Israel killed 5,000 more on the roads. They caught up with another 2,000 and killed them near Gidom. ⁴⁶In all, 25,000 men from Benjamin who were armed with swords were killed that day. They were all experienced men.

⁴⁷But 600 men turned and fled into the desert to Rimmon Rock. They stayed at Rimmon Rock for four months.

⁴⁸Then the men of Israel went back to attack the rest of the territory of Benjamin. They killed all the people and cattle they found in every city. They also burned down every city they came to.

21ST CHAPTER

Israel Provides Wives for the Surviving Men of Benjamin

¹The men of Israel had taken this oath in Mizpah: “None of us will ever let our daughters marry anyone from Benjamin.”

²The people went to Bethel and sat there in the presence of God until evening. They cried very loudly, ³“Lord God of Israel, why has this happened among us? Why should one tribe be missing today in Israel?”

⁴The next day the people got up early. They built an altar there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. ⁵The people asked, “Is there any family from Israel that did not take part in the assembly in the presence of the Lord?” They had taken a solemn oath that whoever had not come into the presence of the Lord at Mizpah must be put to death.

⁶The people of Israel felt sorry for their close relatives, the men of Benjamin. They said, “Today one tribe has been excluded from Israel. ⁷What will we do to provide wives for the men who are left? We swore to the Lord that we would not let any of our daughters marry them.” ⁸Then they asked, “Is there any family from Israel that did not come into the presence of the Lord at Mizpah?” No one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the assembly in the camp. ⁹So they questioned the people, and there was no one there from Jabesh Gilead.

¹⁰The congregation sent 12,000 soldiers. They ordered them, “Go and kill the people of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and children. ¹¹These are your directions: Claim every female who has gone to bed with a man, and claim every male. Claim them for the Lord by destroying them.”

¹²Among the people of Jabesh Gilead they found 400 unmarried women who had never gone to bed with a man. They brought them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.

¹³Then the whole congregation sent messengers to the men of Benjamin at Rimmon Rock and offered them peace. ¹⁴So the men of Benjamin came back at that time. These men were given the women from Jabesh Gilead who had been kept alive. However, the congregation had not found enough women for all of them.

¹⁵The congregation felt sorry for the people of Benjamin because the Lord had broken the unity of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁶The leaders of the congregation asked, “What should we do to provide wives for the men who are left, since the women in Benjamin have been killed?”

¹⁷Some said, “Benjamin’s men who survived must be allowed to have families. No tribe of Israel should be wiped out. ¹⁸However, we can’t give them any of our daughters as wives. The people of Israel have taken an oath that whoever gives wives to the men of Benjamin is under a curse.”

¹⁹Others said, “Every year the Lord’s festival is held at Shiloh. Shiloh is north of Bethel, east of the highway going from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” ²⁰So they told the men of Benjamin, “Hide in the vineyards and ²¹watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to take part in the dances, come out of the vineyards. Each of you catch a woman from Shiloh to be your wife. Then go back to the territory of Benjamin. ²²When their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we’ll tell them, ‘Have pity on them, since we didn’t provide a wife for each man in the battle. You won’t be guilty because you didn’t give them the wives yourselves.’ ”

²³The men of…

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Footnotes

a 20:4 A concubine is considered a wife except she has fewer rights under the law.
c 20:10 Or “10 out of every battalion, 100 out of every regiment, and 1,000 out of every company.”