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.”

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