Judges
Chapter Twenty
1 ¶ So all the children
of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead,
and the congregation gathered together as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.
2 And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves
in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers who
drew the sword.
3 (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up
to Mizpah.) Then the children of Israel said, "Tell us, how did this wicked
deed happen?"
4 So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said,
"My concubine and I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend
the night.
5 "And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night
because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they ravished my concubine
so that she died.
6 "So I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout
all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they committed lewdness
and outrage in Israel.
7 "Look! All of you are children of Israel; give your advice and counsel
here and now!"
8 So all the people arose as one man, saying, "None of us will go to his
tent, nor will any turn back 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 "We will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes
of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten
thousand, to make provisions for the people, that when they come to Gibeah in
Benjamin, they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel."
11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together
as one man.
12 ¶ Then the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin,
saying, "What is this wickedness that has occurred among you?
13 "Now therefore, deliver up the men, the perverted men who are in Gibeah,
that we may put them to death and remove the evil from Israel!" But the
children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children
of Israel.
14 Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to
Gibeah, to go to battle against the children of Israel.
15 And from their cities at that time the children of Benjamin numbered twenty-six
thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered
seven hundred select men.
16 Among all this people were seven hundred select men who were left-handed;
every one could sling a stone at a hair's breadth and not miss.
17 Now besides Benjamin, the men of Israel numbered four hundred thousand men
who drew the sword; all of these were men of war.
18 ¶ Then the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God
to inquire of God. They said, "Which of us shall go up first to battle
against the children of Benjamin?" The LORD said, "Judah first!"
19 So the children of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.
20 And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of
Israel put themselves in battle array to fight against them at Gibeah.
21 Then the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day cut down
to the ground twenty-two thousand men of the Israelites.
22 And the people, that is, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves and again
formed the battle line at the place where they had put themselves in array on
the first day.
23 Then the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening,
and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, "Shall I again draw near for battle
against the children of my brother Benjamin?" And the LORD said, "Go
up against him."
24 So the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second
day.
25 And Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah on the second day, and cut
down to the ground eighteen thousand more of the children of Israel; all these
drew the sword.
26 ¶ Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, went up
and came to the house of God and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted
that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings
before the LORD.
27 So the children of Israel inquired of the LORD (the ark of the covenant of
God was there in those days,
28 and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those
days), saying, "Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children
of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?" And the LORD said, "Go
up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand."
29 Then Israel set men in ambush all around Gibeah.
30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the
third day, and put themselves in battle array against Gibeah as at the other
times.
31 So the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away
from the city. They began to strike down and kill some of the people, as at
the other times, in the highways (one of which goes up to Bethel and the other
to Gibeah) and in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
32 And the children of Benjamin said, "They are defeated before us, as
at first." But the children of Israel said, "Let us flee and draw
them away from the city to the highways."
33 So all the men of Israel rose from their place and put themselves in battle
array at Baal Tamar. Then Israel's men in ambush burst forth from their position
in the plain of Geba.
34 And ten thousand select men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the
battle was fierce. But the Benjamites did not know that disaster was upon them.
35 The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel. And the children of Israel destroyed
that day twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites; all these drew the sword.
36 So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. The men of Israel
had given ground to the Benjamites, because they relied on the men in ambush
whom they had set against Gibeah.
37 And the men in ambush quickly rushed upon Gibeah; the men in ambush spread
out and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword.
38 Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush
was that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise up from the city,
39 whereupon the men of Israel would turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun
to strike and kill about thirty of the men of Israel. For they said, "Surely
they are defeated before us, as in the first battle."
40 But when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, the
Benjamites looked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in smoke
to heaven.
41 And when the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin panicked, for
they saw that disaster had come upon them.
42 Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction
of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them, and whoever came out of the
cities they destroyed in their midst.
43 They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily trampled them down
as far as the front of Gibeah toward the east.
44 And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor.
45 Then they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon; and
they cut down five thousand of them on the highways. Then they pursued them
relentlessly up to Gidom, and killed two thousand of them.
46 So all who fell of Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew
the sword; all these were men of valor.
47 But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of
Rimmon, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months.
48 And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin, and struck
them down with the edge of the sword-from every city, men and beasts, all who
were found. They also set fire to all the cities they came to.
Go to Chapter Twenty-One
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