Judges 20:1-11
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 20
Assembly of Israelites. 1 So all the Israelites came out as one, from Dan to Beer-sheba[a](A) including the land of Gilead, and the assembly gathered to the Lord at Mizpah. 2 The leaders of all the people, all the staff-bearers of Israel,[b] presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God—four hundred thousand foot soldiers who carried swords. 3 Meanwhile, the Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. The Israelites asked, “How did this evil thing happen?” 4 and the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, testified: “It was at Gibeah of Benjamin, which my concubine and I had entered for the night.(B) 5 (C)The lords of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded me in the house at night. I was the one they intended to kill, but they abused my concubine and she died. 6 (D)So I took my concubine and cut her up and sent her through every part of the territory of Israel, because of the terrible thing they had done in Israel. 7 So now, all you Israelites, give your judgment and counsel in this matter.”(E) 8 All the people rose as one to say, “None of us will leave for our tents or return to our homes. 9 Now as for Gibeah, this is what we will do: We will go up against it by lot, 10 taking from all the tribes of Israel ten men for every hundred, a hundred for every thousand, a thousand for every ten thousand, and procuring supplies for the soldiers who will go to exact from Gibeah of Benjamin the full measure of the terrible thing it committed in Israel.”
11 So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one.
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