1 All the children of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba and the land of Gilead too, and the congregation gathered as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.
2 The cornerstones of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of God's people: four hundred thousand men on foot, armed with swords.
3 (The children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The children of Israel said, "Speak: how did this wicked thing come about?"
4 The Levite, husband of the woman who had been murdered, answered, "I came into Gibeah of Benjamin with my concubine to spend the night.
5 The leaders of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house around me at night. Me they meant to kill, and my concubine they abused until she died.
6 I took my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her through all the territory of Israel's inheritance, because they have done a vile and outrageous deed in Israel.
7 Here you all are, children of Israel; give your word and your advice right here."
8 All the people rose as one man and said, "Not one of us will go to his tent, and not one of us will turn aside to his house.
9 Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: go up against it by lot.
10 From all the tribes of Israel we will take ten men of every hundred, a hundred of every thousand, and a thousand of every ten thousand to get provisions for the troops, so that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin they may deal with it for every outrage it has done in Israel."
11 So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, joined together as one man.
12 The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin to say, "What is this wickedness that has taken place among you?
13 Now hand over the men, the sons of Belial in Gibeah, so we can put them to death and burn the evil out of Israel." But the children of Benjamin were unwilling to listen to their brothers, the children of Israel.
14 Instead the children of Benjamin gathered from their cities to Gibeah to go out to war with the children of Israel.
15 That day the children of Benjamin from the cities were counted at twenty-six thousand swordsmen, not counting those living in Gibeah, who were counted at seven hundred picked men.
16 From all these troops there were seven hundred picked men restricted in the right hand; each of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.
17 The men of Israel, not including Benjamin, were counted at four hundred thousand swordsmen, every one a man of war.
18 They set out, went up to Bethel and asked God. The children of Israel said, "Which of us is to go up first to the battle with the children of Benjamin?" The LORD said, "Judah first."
19 In the morning the children of Israel set out and encamped against Gibeah.
20 The men of Israel went out to fight Benjamin, and the men of Israel set the battle in order against them at Gibeah.
21 The children of Benjamin came out from Gibeah, and that day they laid twenty-two thousand men of Israel on the ground.
22 But the troops, the men of Israel, took heart and once more set the battle in order at the spot where they had set it on the first day.
23 The children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD till evening. They asked the LORD, "Shall I go into battle again against my brother, the children of Benjamin?" The LORD said, "Go up against him."
24 On the second day the children of Israel advanced on the children of Benjamin.
25 On the second day Benjamin came out from Gibeah to meet them, and laid another eighteen thousand of the children of Israel on the ground, every one of them a swordsman.
26 Then all the children of Israel, all the troops, went up to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day till evening, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
27 The children of Israel asked the LORD (in those days the ark of the covenant of God was there,
28 and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was standing before it at that time), "Shall I go out once more to battle against my brother, the children of Benjamin, or shall I stop?" The LORD said, "Go up; tomorrow I will hand him over to you."
29 So Israel placed men in ambush around Gibeah.
30 On the third day the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin and set themselves in order against Gibeah as before.
31 The children of Benjamin came out to meet the troops and were drawn away from the city. As before, they began striking down some of the troops, killing them on the roads, one going up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah through the countryside: about thirty men of Israel.
32 The children of Benjamin said, "They are falling before us as at first." But the children of Israel had said, "Let us run and draw them away from the city onto the roads."
33 All the men of Israel got up from where they were and formed up at Baal-tamar, while Israel's ambush burst out from its place, from the open ground of Geba.
34 Ten thousand picked men from all Israel came in front of Gibeah, and the fighting was heavy; but the Benjaminites did not realize that ruin was reaching them.
35 The LORD struck Benjamin down before Israel, and that day the children of Israel destroyed twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin, every one a swordsman.
36 The children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. The men of Israel had yielded ground to Benjamin, relying on the ambush they had placed against Gibeah.
37 The ambush moved quickly and charged into Gibeah; the ambush spread out and put the whole city to the sword.
38 The men of Israel had arranged a sign with the ambush: they were to send up a great cloud of smoke from the city.
39 So the men of Israel turned around in the battle. Benjamin had begun striking down the men of Israel, killing about thirty, for they thought, "They are falling before us for sure, as in the first battle."
40 But the cloud began rising from the city, a pillar of smoke, and the Benjaminites looked back, and the whole city was going up toward the heavens!
41 The men of Israel turned back, and the men of Benjamin were struck with panic, for they saw that ruin had reached them.
42 They turned before the men of Israel toward the wilderness road, but the battle clung to them, and those coming from the cities destroyed them in their midst.
43 They surrounded the Benjaminites, chased them, and trampled them down at their resting place, as far as the front of Gibeah toward the sunrise.
44 Eighteen thousand men fell from Benjamin, all of them valiant men.
45 They turned and fled into the wilderness toward the rock of Rimmon. On the roads they gleaned five thousand men of them, and kept close on their heels to Gidom and struck down two thousand men of them.
46 All of Benjamin who fell that day came to twenty-five thousand swordsmen, all of them valiant men.
47 Six hundred men turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they remained at the rock of Rimmon for four months.
48 The men of Israel came back against the children of Benjamin and put them to the sword, from the whole city to the cattle and everything that was found. Every city they came upon they also sent up in flames.