Judges 20

Israel Gathers Against Benjamin

1Then all the Israelites came out, and the community assembled as one, from Dan to Beersheba, together with the land of Gilead, before Yahweh at Mizpah. 2The leaders of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, took their places in the assembly of the people of God — four hundred thousand foot soldiers who carried swords. 3(The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) The Israelites said, “Tell us, how did this evil happen?” 4The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered, “My concubine and I came to Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night. 5The leading men of Gibeah rose against me and surrounded the house at night, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. 6So I took my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent them throughout the territory of Israel’s inheritance, because they committed a disgraceful outrage in Israel. 7Now, all you Israelites, speak up. Give your judgment here.” 8All the people rose as one and said, “None of us will go to his tent; none of us will return home. 9But now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot. 10We will take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, a hundred from every thousand, and a thousand from every ten thousand, to bring provisions for the army, so that when they reach Gibeah of Benjamin, they can repay it for all the disgraceful outrage it has committed in Israel.” 11So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one man. 12The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this evil that has happened among you? 13Now hand over those worthless men in Gibeah, so we can put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.” But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites. 14Instead, the Benjamites gathered from their cities to Gibeah, to go to war against the Israelites. 15That day the Benjamites mustered twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their cities, in addition to the inhabitants of Gibeah, who mustered seven hundred chosen men. 16Among all these troops were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed, every one of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. 17The men of Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, every one of them a man of war.

The First Battles at Gibeah

18The Israelites set out, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God. “Who will go up first for us to fight against Benjamin?” they asked. Yahweh said, “Judah will go up first.” 19The next morning the Israelites got up and camped facing Gibeah. 20The men of Israel went out to fight Benjamin and drew up their battle lines against them at Gibeah. 21The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand men of Israel on the battlefield that day. 22But the Israelite army took courage and drew up their battle lines again in the same place where they had lined up the first day. 23The Israelites went up and wept before Yahweh until evening, and they inquired of Yahweh, “Should we go up again to fight our brothers, the Benjamites?” Yahweh said, “Go up against them.” 24So the Israelites advanced against the Benjamites on the second day. 25And Benjamin came out from Gibeah to meet them that second day, and cut down another eighteen thousand Israelite swordsmen. 26Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before Yahweh. They fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before Yahweh. 27The Israelites inquired of Yahweh. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there, 28and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving before it.) “Should we go out again to fight our brothers, the Benjamites, or should we stop?” Yahweh said, “Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand.”

Israel’s Ambush Prevails

29So Israel set an ambush around Gibeah. 30On the third day the Israelites went up against the Benjamites and drew up their lines against Gibeah, just as before. 31The Benjamites came out to meet them and were drawn away from the city. As before, they began to strike down some of the Israelites on the roads — one leading to Bethel, the other to Gibeah through the open country — killing about thirty men of Israel. 32The Benjamites said, “They are being defeated before us, just as before.” But the Israelites said, “Let’s retreat and draw them away from the city, onto the roads.” 33Then all the men of Israel got up from their places and took their positions at Baal-tamar, while the Israelite ambush rushed out from its position west of Gibeah. 34Ten thousand chosen men from all Israel then advanced against Gibeah, and the fighting grew fierce. But the Benjamites did not realize that disaster was closing in on them. 35Yahweh struck down Benjamin before Israel, and that day the Israelites cut down twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites, all of them swordsmen. 36Then the Benjamites saw that they were defeated. Now the men of Israel had given ground to Benjamin, because they trusted the ambush they had set near Gibeah. 37The men in ambush rushed quickly against Gibeah, spread out, and struck down the whole city with the sword. 38The Israelites had arranged a signal with the men in ambush: they were to send up a great cloud of smoke from the city. 39So when the men of Israel fell back in the battle, Benjamin began to strike them down, killing about thirty of the men of Israel, for they thought, “They are being utterly defeated before us, just as in the first battle.” 40But when the column of smoke began to rise from the city, the Benjamites turned and looked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in smoke toward the sky. 41Then the men of Israel turned back, and the Benjamites were terrified, because they saw that disaster had overtaken them. 42So they fled before the men of Israel toward the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the cities were cutting them down in their midst. 43They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily overtook them near Gibeah on the east.

The Defeat of Benjamin

44Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell, all of them valiant warriors. 45The rest turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, but the Israelites cut down five thousand of them along the roads. They kept pressing after them as far as Gidom and killed two thousand more. 46So the total of Benjamites who fell that day was twenty-five thousand swordsmen, all of them valiant warriors. 47But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, and stayed there four months. 48The men of Israel turned back against the rest of the Benjamites and put them to the sword — the people of the towns, the animals, everything they found. They also set fire to every town they came to.