Judges 20–21

Chapter 20

Resolve to Punish the Guilty

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 the Lord at ^aMizpah.

²The 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 drew the sword.

³(Now 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 wickedness 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“But the ^amen of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me; instead, they ^bravished my concubine so that she died.

⁶“And I ^atook hold of 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 return 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 to ¹supply food for the people, that when they come to ²Gibeah of Benjamin, they may ³punish them for all the disgraceful acts that they have committed 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 wickedness that has taken place among you?

¹³“Now then, deliver up the men, the ^1aworthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and ^bremove this wickedness from Israel.” But the sons of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.

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

¹⁵From 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 numbered, 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.

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

Civil War, Benjamin Defeated

¹⁸Now the sons of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and ^ainquired of God and said, “Who shall go up first for us to battle against the sons of Benjamin?” Then the Lord said, “Judah shall go up first.”

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

²⁰The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel arrayed for battle against them at Gibeah.

²¹Then the sons of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and ^1afelled to the ground on that day 22,000 men of Israel.

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

^23aThe sons of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and ^binquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall we again draw near for battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin?” And the Lord said, “Go up against him.”

²⁴Then the sons of Israel ¹came against the sons of Benjamin the second day.

²⁵Benjamin went out ¹against them from Gibeah the second day and ²felled 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 the Lord and fasted that day until evening. And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

²⁷The sons of Israel ^ainquired of the Lord (for 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 the Lord said, “Go up, ^afor tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.”

^29aSo Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah.

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

^31aThe sons of Benjamin went out ¹against the people and were drawn away from the city, and they began to strike ²and kill 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 struck down 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 broke out of their place, even out of Maareh-geba.

³⁴When ten thousand choice men from all Israel came against Gibeah, the battle became ¹fierce; ^abut ²Benjamin did not know that ³disaster was ⁴close to them.

³⁵And the Lord struck Benjamin before Israel, so that the sons of Israel destroyed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day, all ¹who draw the sword.

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

^37athe men in ambush hurried and rushed against Gibeah; the men in ambush also 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.

³⁹Then the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike ¹and kill about thirty men of Israel, ^afor they said, “Surely they are ²defeated before us, as in the first battle.”

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

⁴¹Then the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified; for they saw that ^1adisaster was ²close to them.

⁴²Therefore, they turned their backs before the men of Israel ^atoward the direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them while 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 toward the ¹east.

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

⁴⁵¹The 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 ⁴killed 2,000 of them.

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

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

⁴⁸The men of Israel then turned back against 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.

Chapter 21

Mourning Lost Tribe

¹Now the men of Israel ^ahad sworn in Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin ¹in marriage.”

^2aSo the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and lifted up their voices and wept ¹bitterly.

³They said, “Why, O Lord, God of Israel, has this come about in Israel, so that one tribe should be missing today in Israel?”

⁴It came about the next day that the people arose early and built ^aan altar there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

⁵Then the sons of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up in the assembly to the Lord?” For ¹they had taken a great oath concerning him ^awho did not come up to the Lord at Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.”

⁶And the sons of Israel were sorry for their brother Benjamin and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel today.

⁷“What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have ^asworn by the Lord not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?”

Provision for Their Survival

⁸And they said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the Lord at Mizpah?” And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.

⁹For when the people were ¹numbered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there.

¹⁰And the congregation sent 12,000 of the valiant warriors there, and commanded them, saying, “Go and ^astrike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones.

¹¹“This is the thing that you shall do: you ^ashall utterly destroy every man and every woman who has ¹lain with a man.”

¹²And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with ¹him; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

¹³Then the whole congregation sent word and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were ^aat the rock of Rimmon, and ^bproclaimed peace to them.

¹⁴Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had kept alive from the women of Jabesh-gilead; yet they ¹were not enough for them.

¹⁵And the people were sorry for Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

¹⁶Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?”

¹⁷They said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be blotted out from Israel.

¹⁸“But we cannot give them wives of our daughters.” For the sons of Israel ^ahad sworn, saying,…