Judges 20:1-11

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

The Other Tribes Attack Benjamin

20 Then all the people of Israel came out, from Dan to Beer-sheba, including the land of Gilead, and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at Mizpah. ² And the chiefs of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand men on foot that drew the sword. ³ (Now the Benjaminites heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the people of Israel said, “Tell us, how was this wickedness brought to pass?” ⁴ And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “I came to Gib′e-ah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night. ⁵ And the men of Gib′e-ah rose against me, and beset the house round about me by night; they meant to kill me, and they ravished my concubine, and she is dead. ⁶ And I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed abomination and wantonness in Israel. ⁷ Behold, you people of Israel, all of you, give your advice and counsel here.”

⁸ And all the people arose as one man, saying, “We will not any of us go to his tent, and none of us will return to his house. ⁹ But now this is what we will do to Gib′e-ah: we will go up against it by lot, ¹⁰ and we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, to bring provisions for the people, that when they come they may requite Gib′e-ah of Benjamin, for all the wanton crime which they have committed in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one man.