1And all the sons of Israel went out, and the assembly was gathered together as one man, from Dan and as far as Beer-sheba, and the land of Gilead, to the Lord at Mizpah.
2And all the tribes of Israel stood before the Lord in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen drawing sword.
3And the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah, and the sons of Israel came and said, Speak, where did this evil thing take place?
4And the man, the Levite, the man of the woman who had been murdered, answered and said, I came to Gibeah of Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge there
5And the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house against me by night; me they wanted to murder, and my concubine they humbled, and she died.
6and I seized my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of the sons of Israel, because they have committed outrage and disgrace in Israel
7Behold, all of you sons of Israel, give among yourselves counsel and advice there.
8And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not depart, each man to his tent, and we will not return, each man to his house.
9And now this is the thing which shall be done to Gabaah: we shall go up against it by lot
10Only, we will take ten men out of a hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of the thousands, and a thousand out of the ten thousands, to take provision, in order to make them come to Gibeah of Benjamin, to do to it according to all the outrage that it did in Israel
11And every man of Israel was gathered into the city as one man
12And the tribes of Israel sent men in every tribe of Benjamin, saying, What is this wickedness that has been done among you?
13And now give up the men, sons of lawless men, those in Gibeah, and we will put them to death and cleanse away evil from Israel; but the sons of Benjamin were not willing to listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.
14And the sons of Benjamin were gathered from their cities to Gibeah, to go out for battle against the sons of Israel
15And the sons of Benjamin were mustered on that day from the cities, twenty-three thousand men drawing sword, besides those inhabiting Gabaa, who were mustered, seven hundred chosen men.
16Among all the people these were all left-handed slingers with stones at a hair’s breadth and not missing the mark
17And the men of Israel were reviewed, besides Benjamin, four hundred thousand men drawing a sword; all these were men of battle formation
18And they arose and went up to Bethel and asked in God, and the sons of Israel said, Who shall go up for us at the first into battle against the sons of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up at the first, leading the way.
19And the sons of Israel rose up in the morning and camped against Gabaa.
20And every man of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and they joined battle with them at Gabaah.
21And the sons of Benjamin went out from Gabaa and destroyed in Israel on that day twenty-two thousand men down to the ground
22And the men of Israel strengthened themselves and they again joined to set the battle in array in the place where they had joined on the first day.
23And the sons of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and they inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall we add to draw near for battle against the sons of Benjamin our brothers? And the Lord said, Go up against them.
24And the sons of Israel drew near against the sons of Benjamin on the second day.
25And the sons of Benjamin went out to meet them from Gibeah on the second day, and they destroyed yet eighteen thousand men from the sons of Israel to the ground; all these were drawing the sword.
26And all the sons of Israel and all the people went up and came to Bethel and wept and sat there before the Lord and fasted on that day until evening and offered whole burnt offerings and complete offerings before the Lord
27for there the ark of the covenant of the Lord God was
28And Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron was standing before it in those days, and the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall we still add to go out for battle against the sons of Benjamin our brothers, or shall we refrain? And the Lord said, Go up, because tomorrow I will give them into your hands.
29And the sons of Israel set an ambush around Gabaa
30And the sons of Israel went up against the sons of Benjamin on the third day, and they joined battle against Gibeah as once and once again
31And the sons of Benjamin went out to meet the people, and they were drawn out from the city, and they began to strike down from the people wounded men, as once and once, on the roads, the one which is one going up to Bethel and one to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men in Israel.
32And the sons of Benjamin said, They are falling before us as at first; and the sons of Israel said, Let us flee and empty them from the city into the roads. And they did so.
33And every man rose from his place, and they joined battle at Baal-tamar, and the ambush of Israel was advancing from its place from Maaragabe.
34And ten thousand chosen men from all Israel came from opposite Gabaa, and the battle was heavy, and they themselves did not know that evil was coming upon them
35And the Lord struck Benjamin before the sons of Israel, and the sons of Israel destroyed from Benjamin on that day twenty-five thousand and one hundred men; all these drew a sword.
36And the sons of Benjamin saw that they were struck down, and the man of Israel gave place to Benjamin, because they hoped in the ambush that they had set against Gibeah.
37And when they withdrew, the ambush also moved and they rushed out against Gibeah, and the ambush broke forth and struck the city with the mouth of the sword
38And there was a signal for the sons of Israel with the men in ambush of the battle, to raise up a signal of smoke from the city
39And the sons of Israel saw that the ambush had seized Gabaah beforehand, and they stood in the battle line, and Benjamin began to strike down wounded men among the men of Israel, about thirty men, because they said, They are surely falling again before us, as the first battle line.
40And the signal rose up more over the city as a pillar of smoke, and Benjamin looked behind him, and behold, the whole destruction of the city went up to heaven
41And a man of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin hurried, because they saw that evil had met against them.
42And they turned in sight of the sons of Israel toward the way of the wilderness, and they fled, and the battle line overtook them, and those from the cities were destroying them in their midst
43And they cut down Benjamin and pursued him from Noua at his heel as far as opposite Gabaa toward the rising of the sun
44And there fell from Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valor
45And the rest turned and fled into the wilderness, toward the rock of Remmon, and the sons of Israel cut down among them five thousand men, and the sons of Israel went down after them as far as Gidan, and struck among them two thousand men
46And all those falling from Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men drawing sword on that day; all these were men of might
47And the rest turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, six hundred men, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon four months.
48And the sons of Israel returned against the sons of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, from the city of Methla and as far as beast and as far as all that was found, in all the cities; and the cities that were found they burned with fire.