Judges 20

CHAPTER 20

A Battle Between Israel and Benjamin

¹Then all the sons of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, came out, and the congregation assembled as one man to Yahweh at ^aMizpah.

²And the ¹chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, took their stand in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 foot ²soldiers ^awho draw the sword.

³(Then the 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 take place?”

⁴So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “I came with my concubine to spend the night at Gibeah which belongs to Benjamin.

⁵“Then the ^amen of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me; instead, they ^bviolated my concubine, and she died.

⁶“And I ^aseized my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance; for ^bthey have committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.

⁷“Behold, all you sons of Israel, ^agive your advice and counsel here.”

⁸Then all the people arose as one man, saying, “Not one of us will go to his tent, nor will any of us turn aside to his house.

⁹“But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up against it by lot.

¹⁰“And we will take 10 men out of 100 throughout the tribes of Israel, and 100 out of 1,000, and 1,000 out of 10,000 in order to take up provisions for the people, that when they come to ¹Gibeah of Benjamin, they may do to them according to all the disgraceful acts that they have done in Israel.”

¹¹Thus all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united as one man.

¹²Then the tribes of Israel sent men through the entire ¹tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this evil that has taken place among you?

¹³“So now, give up the men, the ^1avile fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and ^bpurge this evil from Israel.” But the sons of Benjamin were not willing to listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.

¹⁴Then the sons of Benjamin gathered from the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the sons of Israel.

¹⁵And from the cities on that day the ^asons of Benjamin were ¹numbered, 26,000 men who draw the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah who were ²numbered, 700 choice men.

¹⁶Out of all these people 700 ^achoice men were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

¹⁷And the men of Israel besides Benjamin were ¹numbered, 400,000 men who draw the sword; all these were men of war.

¹⁸Then the sons of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and ^aasked of God and said, “Who shall go up for us to begin the battle against the sons of Benjamin?” Then Yahweh said, “Judah shall begin it.”

¹⁹So the sons of Israel arose in the morning and camped against Gibeah.

²⁰And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel arranged themselves for battle against them at Gibeah.

²¹Then the sons of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and ^adestroyed to the ground on that day 22,000 men of Israel.

²²But the people, the men of Israel, strengthened themselves and arranged themselves for battle again in the place where they had arranged themselves the first day.

^23aAnd the sons of Israel went up and wept before Yahweh until evening and ^basked of Yahweh, saying, “Shall we again approach for battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin?” And Yahweh said, “Go up against him.”

²⁴Then the sons of Israel drew near to the sons of Benjamin the second day.

²⁵And Benjamin went out to meet them from Gibeah the second day and destroyed to the ground again 18,000 men of the sons of Israel; all these drew the sword.

²⁶Then ^aall the sons of Israel and all the people went up and came to Bethel and wept; thus they remained there before Yahweh and fasted that day until evening. And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Yahweh.

²⁷Then the sons of Israel ^aasked of Yahweh (now the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

²⁸and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, Aaron’s son, stood before it to minister in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?” And Yahweh said, “Go up, ^afor tomorrow I will give them into your hand.”

^29aSo Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah.

³⁰And the sons of Israel went up against the sons of Benjamin on the third day and arrayed themselves against Gibeah as at other times.

^31aSo the sons of Benjamin went out to meet the people and were drawn away from the city, and they began to strike ¹and slay some of the people as at other times, on the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, and in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

³²The sons of Benjamin said, “They are ¹defeated before us, as at the first.” But the sons of Israel said, “Let us flee that we may draw them away from the city to the highways.”

³³Then all the men of Israel arose from their place and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamar; ^aand the men of Israel in ambush burst forth of their place, even out of Maareh-geba.

³⁴Then 10,000 choice men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle became heavy; ^abut ¹Benjamin did not know that ²calamity was ³about to reach them.

³⁵Then Yahweh ¹defeated Benjamin before Israel, so that the sons of Israel destroyed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day, all ²who drew the sword.

³⁶So the sons of Benjamin saw that they were ¹defeated. ^aNow the men of Israel had given ²ground to Benjamin because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah.

^37aSo the men in ambush hurried and rushed against Gibeah. Then the men in ambush deployed and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.

³⁸Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was ^athat they would make a great cloud of smoke rise from the city.

³⁹So the men of Israel had turned around in the battle, and Benjamin had begun to strike ¹and slay about thirty men of Israel, ^afor they said, “Surely they are ²defeated before us, as in the first battle.”

⁴⁰But the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, and Benjamin turned ^abehind them; and behold, the whole city was going up in smoke to heaven.

⁴¹Then the men of Israel turned around again, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that ^1acalamity had ²reached them.

⁴²Therefore, they turned their backs before the men of Israel ^atoward the direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst of them.

^43aThey surrounded Benjamin, pursued them without rest, and trod them down opposite Gibeah to the east toward the sunrise.

⁴⁴Thus 18,000 men of Benjamin fell; all these were valiant men.

⁴⁵¹And the rest turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of ^aRimmon, but they ²caught 5,000 of them on the highways and overtook them ³at Gidom and struck down 2,000 of them.

⁴⁶So all of Benjamin who fell that day were 25,000 men who drew the sword; all these were valiant men.

⁴⁷But 600 men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they remained at the rock of Rimmon four months.

⁴⁸Now the men of Israel returned to the sons of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city with the cattle and all that they found; they also set on fire all the cities which they found.