Judges 20

Revised Geneva Translation

20 Then all the children of Israel went out. And the Congregation was gathered together with the land of Gilead before the LORD in Mizpah, as one man, from Dan to Beersheba.

² And the chief of all the people, and all the tribes of Israel, assembled four hundred thousand footmen who drew sword from the Congregation of the people of God.

³ (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) Then, the children of Israel said, “How did this wickedness happen?”

⁴ And the same Levite, the husband of the woman who was slain, answered and said, “I came to Gibeah, which is in Benjamin, with my concubine, to lodge.

⁵ “And the men of Gibeah arose against me and surrounded the house by night, intending to kill me. But instead, they afflicted my concubine so that now she is dead.

⁶ “Then 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 villainy in Israel.

⁷ “Behold, you are all children of Israel. Give your advice and counsel in this.”

⁸ Then all the people arose as one man, saying, “Not one of us shall go to his tent, nor any turn into his house.

⁹ “But now, this is that thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up, by lot, against it;

¹⁰ “and we will take ten men out of a hundred, throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, to bring provisions for the people, so that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin they may do according to all the villainy that it has done in Israel.”

¹¹ So, all the men of Israel were gathered opposite the city, knit together as one man.

¹² And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What wickedness is this that is committed among you?

¹³ “Now, therefore, deliver to us those wicked men who are in Gibeah, so that we may put them to death and put away evil from Israel!” But the children of Benjamin would not obey the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel.

¹⁴ Rather, the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together in Gibeah, from out of their cities, to come and fight against the children of Israel.

¹⁵ And the children of Benjamin from out of the cities were numbered at that time, twenty-six thousand men who drew sword (in addition to the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered at seven hundred chosen men).

¹⁶ Of all these people, seven hundred chosen men were left-handed and could sling stones at a hair’s breadth, and not fail.

¹⁷ And the men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered at four hundred thousand men who drew sword, all men of war.

¹⁸ And the children of Israel arose and went up to the House of God and asked of God, saying, “Which of us shall go up first to fight against the children of Benjamin?” And the LORD said, “Judah first.”

¹⁹ Then the children of Israel arose up early and camped near Gibeah.

²⁰ And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin. And the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah.

²¹ And the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and cut down to the ground of the Israelites that day, twenty-two thousand men.

²² And the people, the men of Israel, plucked up their hearts, and set themselves in battle formation again, in the same place where they had put themselves in formation on the first day.

²³ (For the children of Israel had gone up and wept before the LORD until the evening, and had asked of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go back to battle against the children of Benjamin, my brethren?” And the LORD said, “Go up against them.”)

²⁴ Then the children of Israel came near, against the children of Benjamin, on the second day.

²⁵ Also the second day, Benjamin came forth to meet them out of Gibeah, and, again, cut down to the ground eighteen thousand men of the children of Israel. All of them could handle the sword.

²⁶ Then all the children of Israel went up. And all the people also came to the House of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted on that day until the evening, and offered Burnt Offerings and Peace Offerings before the LORD.

²⁷ And the children of Israel asked the LORD (for there was the Ark of the Covenant of God in those days,

²⁸ and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it at that time) saying, “Shall I continue to go to battle against the children of Benjamin, my brethren, or shall I cease?” And the LORD said, “Go up. For tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.”

²⁹ And Israel set men to lie in wait all around Gibeah.

³⁰ And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in formation against Gibeah, as at other times.

³¹ Then the children of Benjamin, coming out against the people, were drawn from the city. And they began to strike of the people and kill as at other times, by the roads in the field (of which one goes up to the House of God and the other to Gibeah) upon about thirty men of Israel.

³² (For the children of Benjamin said, “They have fallen before us, as at first.” But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways).

³³ And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place and put themselves in formation at Baal Tamar. And the men of the Israelites who lay in wait came forth from their place, out of the meadows of Geba.

³⁴ And they came over near Gibeah, ten thousand chosen men of all Israel. And the battle was fierce, for the Benjamites did not know that calamity was upon them.

³⁵ And the LORD struck Benjamin before Israel. And that same day, the children of Israel destroyed twenty-five thousand one hundred men of the Benjamites, all who could handle the sword.

³⁶ So the children of Benjamin saw that they were stricken down. For the men of Israel gave ground to the Benjamites because they trusted the men who lay in wait, whom they had laid beside Gibeah.

³⁷ And those who lay in wait hurried and broke forth toward Gibeah, and the ambushers spread out and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword.

³⁸ Also, the men of Israel had appointed a certain time with the ambushers, that they would make a great flame and smoke would arise up out of the city.

³⁹ And when the men of Israel turned in the battle, Benjamin began to strike and kill some of the men of Israel, about thirty people. For they said, “Surely they are stricken down before us, as in the first battle!”

⁴⁰ But when the flame began to rise out of the city, a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked back, and behold, the flame of the city began to ascend up to Heaven.

⁴¹ Then the men of Israel turned back; and the men of Benjamin were astonished. For they saw that calamity was upon them.

⁴² Therefore, they fled before the men of Israel, to the way of the wilderness. But the battle overtook them. Also, those who came out of the cities killed them in the midst of them.

⁴³ Thus they surrounded the Benjamites, chasing them down and easily catching them opposite Gibeah, on the eastern side.

⁴⁴ And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin were killed, all men of war.

⁴⁵ And they turned and fled to the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon. And the Israelites killed five thousand of them along the way, and pursued after them to Gidom, and killed two thousand of them,

⁴⁶ so that all the men of Benjamin who were killed that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew sword, who were all men of war.

⁴⁷ But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, and stayed in the rock of Rimmon for four months.

⁴⁸ Then, the men of Israel turned to the children of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, from the men of the city to the beasts, and all who came to hand. Also, they set on fire all the cities that they could find.