Judges 20:1-28

Contemporary English Version

Israel Gets Ready for War

20 ^1-3 The Israelites called a meeting of the nation. And since they were God's people, the meeting was held at the place of worship in Mizpah. Men who could serve as soldiers came from everywhere in Israel—from Dan in the north, Beersheba in the south, and Gilead east of the Jordan River. Four hundred thousand of them came to Mizpah, and they each felt the same about what those men from the tribe of Benjamin had done.

News about the meeting at Mizpah reached the tribe of Benjamin.

As soon as the leaders of the tribes of Israel took their places, the Israelites said, “How could such a horrible thing happen?”

⁴ The husband of the murdered woman answered:

My wife^[a] and I went into the town of Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. ⁵ Later that night, the men of Gibeah surrounded the house. They wanted to kill me, but instead they raped and killed my wife. ⁶ It was a terrible thing for Israelites to do! So I cut up her body and sent the pieces everywhere in Israel.

⁷ You are the people of Israel, and you must decide today what to do about the men of Gibeah.

⁸ The whole army was in agreement, and they said, “None of us will go home. ^9-10 We'll send one tenth of the men from each tribe to get food for the army. And we'll ask God^[b] who should attack Gibeah, because those men^[c] deserve to be punished for committing such a horrible crime in Israel.”

¹¹ Everyone agreed that Gibeah had to be punished.

¹² The tribes of Israel sent messengers to every town and village in Benjamin. And wherever the messengers went, they said, “How could those worthless men in Gibeah do such a disgusting thing? ¹³ We can't allow such a terrible crime to go unpunished in Israel! Hand the men over to us, and we will put them to death.”

But the people of Benjamin refused to listen to the other Israelites. ¹⁴ Men from towns all over Benjamin's territory went to Gibeah and got ready to fight Israel. ¹⁵ The Benjamin tribe had 26,000 soldiers, not counting the 700 who were Gibeah's best warriors. ¹⁶ In this army there were 700 left-handed experts who could sling a rock^[d] at a target the size of a hair and hit it every time.

¹⁷ The other Israelite tribes organized their army and found they had 400,000 experienced soldiers. ¹⁸ So they went to the place of worship at Bethel^[e] and asked God, “Which tribe should be the first to attack the people of Benjamin?”

“Judah,” the Lord answered.

¹⁹ The next morning the Israelite army moved its camp to a place near Gibeah. ²⁰ Then they left their camp and got into position to attack the army of Benjamin.

The War Between Israel and Benjamin

²¹ Benjamin's soldiers came out of Gibeah and attacked, and when the day was over, 22,000 Israelite soldiers lay dead on the ground.

^22-24 The people of Israel went to the place of worship and cried until sunset. Then they asked the Lord, “Should we attack the people of Benjamin again, even though they are our relatives?”

“Yes,” the Lord replied, “attack them again!”

The Israelite soldiers encouraged each other to be brave and to fight hard. Then the next day they went back to Gibeah and took up the same positions as they had before.

²⁵ That same day, Benjamin's soldiers came out of Gibeah and attacked, leaving another 18,000 Israelite soldiers dead on the battlefield.

^26-28 The people of Israel went to the place of worship at Bethel,^[f] where the sacred chest was being kept. They sat on the ground, crying and not eating for the rest of the day. Then about sunset, they offered sacrifices to please the Lord and to ask his blessing.^[g] Phinehas^[h] the priest then prayed, “Our Lord, the people of Benjamin are our relatives. Should we stop fighting or attack them again?”

“Attack!” the Lord answered. “Tomorrow I will let you defeat them.”