Judges 20:36–48

³⁶The descendants^h of Benjamin saw that they were defeated, and the men of Israel gave groundⁱ to Benjamin because they trusted the ambush that they had set against Gibeah. ³⁷And the ambush came quickly and advanced against Gibeah, and it put the whole city to the sword.^{j 38}Now the appointed time for the men of Israel with the ambush was that they sent up for them a great amount of smoke from the city. ³⁹And the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to inflict casualties on about thirty men of Israel because they thought,^k “They will be completely defeated before us as in the first battle.” ⁴⁰And the cloud of smoke began to go up from the city in a column of smoke, and Benjamin turned backward, and behold, the whole city was going up in smoke!^{l 41}And the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed because they saw that disaster was closing in^m on them. ⁴²And they retreated from before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness, but the battle caught up to them, and those who came from the citiesⁿ destroyed them in the midst of them. ⁴³They surrounded Benjamin; they pursued them^o without rest^p and trod them^q down opposite Gibeah to the east. ⁴⁴And eighteen thousand men from Benjamin fell, all of them able men.^{r 45}And they turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, but they cut down on the main roads five thousand men; and they pursued after them up to Gidom, and they struck down two thousand men. ⁴⁶So all of Benjamin who fell on that day were twenty-five thousand sword-wielding men;^s all of these were able men.^{t 47}But six hundred turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, and they remained at the rock of Rimmon for four months. ⁴⁸And the men of Israel returned to the descendants^u of Benjamin, and they put them to the edge of the sword,^v both the inhabitants of the city and the animals that were found; they also set on fire all the cities that they found.