Judges, Chapter 20:

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Verses from Judges, Chapter 20 of the book of Judges of the Bible.

The Israelites fight the Benjamites

1. Then all the Israelites, from Dan to Beersheba, and from Gilead, assembled as one man before the Lord in Mizpeh.
2. The leaders of all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly, four hundred thousand soldiers armed with swords.
3. (The Benjamites learned that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpeh.) The Israelites asked, “How did this evil happen?”
4. Then the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said: “My concubine and I have come to Gibeah of Benjamin to spend the night.
5. During the night, men from Gibeah came to attack me and surrounded the house with the intention of killing me. They raped my concubine, and she died.
6. I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent a piece to each region of Israel, for they committed this shameful wickedness in Israel.
7. Now, all you Israelites, speak up and pronounce your verdict.”
8. All the people stood up as one man, saying, “None of us will go home. None of us will return home.
9. But this is what we will do against Gibeah: we will draw lots among all the tribes of Israel,
10. And out of a hundred men we will select ten, out of a thousand we will select a hundred, and out of ten thousand we will select a thousand, to provide provisions for the army that will go to Gibeah of Benjamin to punish the evil that was committed in Israel ".
11. And all the Israelites assembled and united as one man against the city.
12. The tribes of Israel sent men to all the tribes of Benjamin, saying, “What is your opinion of this terrible evil that has been committed among you? Hand over these wicked people from Gibeah so that we can execute them and eliminate this evil from Israel.”
13. But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites.
14. Then, coming from their cities, they gathered at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites.
15. That day the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand soldiers armed with swords from their cities, in addition to the seven hundred best soldiers who lived in Gibeah.
16. Among all these soldiers, there were seven hundred left-handers, extremely skilled, able to throw a stone with a sling and not miss the target.
17. Israel, without the Benjaminites, summoned four hundred thousand men armed with swords, all warriors.
18. The Israelites went up to Bethel and consulted God. They asked, “Which of us will fight the Benjamites first?” The Lord replied, "Judah will go first."
19. The next morning the Israelites got up, encamped near Gibeah, and prepared to fight the Benjaminites.
20. The men of Israel went out to fight the Benjamites and took up a fighting position against them at Gibeah.
21. The Benjamites left Gibeah and that day they killed twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield.
22. But the Israelites took heart and again took their stand, as on the first day.
23. They went up, wept before the Lord until evening, and inquired of the Lord, asking, “Shall we again attack our Benjaminite brethren?” The Lord replied, "Yes, attack."
24. Then the Israelites advanced against the Benjamites on the second day.
25. This time, when the Benjamites came out of Gibeah to meet them, they killed eighteen thousand more Israelites, all of them armed with swords.
26. The Israelites went to Bethel, where they sat down and wept before the Lord. They fasted until evening, offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord.
27. They inquired of the Lord. (In those days the ark of the covenant was there,
28. and Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, served before her.) They asked, ′′ Shall we fight again against our Benjaminite brothers?" The Lord replied, "Yes, go forward tomorrow, and I will give them into your hands."
29. So the Israelites set an ambush around Gibeah.
30. On the third day, they advanced again against the Benjamites and took position against Gibeah, as they had done before.
31. The Benjamites came out to meet them and were drawn away from the city. They began to smite some of the Israelites, as they had done before, and they killed about thirty men in the fields and on the roads, one going to Bethel and one going to Gibeah.
32. While the Benjamites said, "We are defeating them as before," the Israelites said, "Let us withdraw and draw them away from the city to the roads."
33. All the men of Israel rose from their places and took up position at Baal-Tamar, while the Israelite ambush attacked from their position west of Gibeah. The Israelites pretended to retreat before Benjamin, as they trusted the ambush they had prepared near Gibeah.
34. The Benjamites began to smite the Israelites, killing about thirty of them, and they said, "We are defeating them as in the first battle."
35. But the Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel that day. The Israelites killed twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites, all of them armed with swords.
36. Then the Benjamites realized that they were defeated.
37. The men in the ambush quickly advanced on Gibeah, spread out and killed all the inhabitants of the city with the edge of the sword.
38. The Israelites had agreed with the men in the ambush that they would cause a great cloud of smoke to rise from the city,
39. and then the Israelites would turn to fight.
40. When the pillar of smoke began to rise from the city, the Benjamites turned and saw the smoke rising to the sky.
41. Then the Israelites turned against them, and the Benjaminites were terrified, for they perceived that disaster had come to them.
42. They fled from the presence of the Israelites towards the desert, to the rock of Rimmon, but they could not escape the fight. The Israelites who came out of the cities killed them there.
43. They surrounded the Benjamites, pursued them and overtook them near Gibeah to the east.
44. Eighteen thousand Benjamites were slain, all of them valiant warriors.
45. When the Benjamites turned and fled towards the desert, to the rock of Rimmon, the Israelites killed another five thousand men along the roads. They continued to pursue the Benjamites as far as Gidom and killed over two thousand men.
46. That day twenty-five thousand Benjamites, all of them armed with swords, were killed.
47. Six hundred men, however, turned their backs and fled into the desert, to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed for four months.
48. The Israelites returned to Benjamin, passed all the cities with the edge of the sword, including the animals and everything they found, and burned all the cities they passed through.