Judges 20

₁The Israelites came together at the tent of the Lord in the town of Mizpah. They came from all the different places in the land, from the town of Dan in the north, to Beersheba in the south and to the land of Gilead. ₂The leaders from all 12 tribes_of_Israel were there in the congregation of the people of God. There were 400 000 men with swords. They were ready to go to war. ₃They told the Benjamin people that all the Israelites had gone to Mizpah. Then the Israelites said: ‘You must tell us. How did this bad thing happen?’

₄The Levite, the husband of the dead woman, answered and said: ‘My concubine and I came to the town of Gibeah, a town of the Benjamin tribe. We wanted to sleep there. ₅During the night the men of Gibeah did very bad things to me. They came and stood around the house. They wanted to kill me and they raped my concubine and she died. ₆Then I took my concubine's body and cut it into pieces and I sent the pieces to all the people of the land_of_Israel. I wanted everyone to know that the men of Gibeah had done a bad thing, something that all the Israelites should be ashamed of. ₇Now all of you must decide what we must say and do.’

₈Everyone said: ‘Not one of us will go back home. ₉This is what we will do: We will draw_lots to find out who of us must go and punish the people of Gibeah. ₁₀We will send one out of every 10 men of each tribe_of_Israel to go and get food and when they come back, we will punish the people of Gibeah in Benjamin because they did this bad thing in the land_of_Israel.’

₁₁Then all the men of Israel went to the town of Gibeah to attack the town. ₁₂First they sent messengers to every town and village in the land of Benjamin and they told them: ‘Some of your people have done a very bad thing. ₁₃You must bring those bad men out of the town of Gibeah so that we can kill them. We must take this bad thing away from the land_of_Israel.’

But the Benjamin people did not want to listen to the other Israelites. ₁₄The men from Benjamin came from all the other towns to the town of Gibeah and they wanted to go to war_against the Israelites. ₁₅The Benjamin people had 26 000 men who could fight and they had 700 soldiers from Gibeah ₁₆who used their left hands to fight in a war. They could throw a stone with a sling and they would not miss. ₁₇The Israelites had 400 000 men who could go to war. They were all good soldiers. ₁₈The Israelites went to the town of Bethel to ask God what to do. They asked Him which tribe must go first and attack the people of Benjamin. The Lord said: ‘The Judah tribe must go first.’

₁₉The next morning the Israelites went to the town of Gibeah and they put up their tents. ₂₀They went from their camp and they were ready to go to war_against the people of Gibeah.

₂₁The Benjamin soldiers came from the town of Gibeah that day and they killed 22 000 of the Israelite men. _22-23The Israelites cried before the Lord until the evening. They asked the Lord if they must go again to fight in a war_against their brothers, the people of Benjamin, and the Lord said: ‘Yes, you must go again to fight in a war_against them.’ The men of Israel were brave. They were ready to go to war and they stood at the same place as they had stood on the first day.

₂₄On the 2nd day the soldiers of Israel came closer to the Benjamin soldiers. ₂₅When the Benjamin soldiers came out of Gibeah to fight, they killed 18 000 of the Israelite soldiers. ₂₆All the soldiers of Israel went to the town of Bethel and they sat before the tent of the Lord and they cried. They fasted that day and they sacrificed burnt-offerings and meal-offerings to the Lord. _27-28During that time the covenant box of the Lord was in Bethel and Phinehas was the priest at the covenant box. He was from the family of Eleazar, son of Aaron. The Israelites asked the Lord: ‘Must we go to war_against our brothers, the people of Benjamin, or must we stop making war?’ The Lord said: ‘Yes, you must go to war because tomorrow I will help you win and defeat them.’

₂₉The soldiers of Israel made some of their men hide near the town of Gibeah. The Benjamin people could not see them. ₃₀Then on the 3rd day the Israelites went to the people of Benjamin to go to war. They stood and waited to attack the town of Gibeah ₃₁and the Benjamin soldiers came out of their town to start the war. They fought further away from the town and they started to kill some of the Israelite soldiers as they had done before. They killed about 30 of the Israelite soldiers in the field and on the road between the towns of Gibeah and Bethel. ₃₂The Benjamin people thought they would defeat the Israelites as they had before. The Israelite soldiers ran away and fled and then the Benjamin soldiers followed_and_chased them and they were on the roads and far from their town. ₃₃The Israelite men went into the town of Baal-Tamar and then the other Israelites who were hiding west of the town of Gibeah got up and started attacking the men of Benjamin. ₃₄They were 10 000 of the best Israelite soldiers and they attacked the town of Gibeah. The Benjamin men were so busy making war_against the Israelites that they did not see the plan that the Israelite men had and that they were winning against them. ₃₅The Lord helped the Israelite men win and they killed 25 100 Benjamin men on that day. ₃₆Then the Benjamin men saw that they had lost the war, because the Israelite men had first run away from the Benjamin men, but they knew that their other soldiers were hiding near the town of Gibeah. ₃₇When those Israelite men went into Gibeah, they defeated the town and killed all the people. ₃₈They told the other Israelite men that they would make a big a fire in the town, ₃₉and when the men of Israel saw the smoke of the fire, they should turn_around and start fighting against them. When the Benjamin men chased the Israelite men, they killed about 30 of them and they said to each other: ‘We will win this war again as we have done before.’

₄₀But when the Benjamin men looked back, they saw the smoke coming up from their town. Their town was on fire. ₄₁Then the Israelite men turned_around and they attacked the Benjamin men who were now afraid because they knew that the Israelite men were defeating them. ₄₂The Benjamin men tried to run and flee into the desert but they could not get away. The other Israelite soldiers came from their town, Gibeah, and killed them. ₄₃There were Israelite men in front of and behind the Benjamin men and they killed many of them east of Gibeah. ₄₄The Israelites killed 18 000 Benjamin men. All of them were good soldiers. ₄₅Some of the Benjamin men fled to Rimmon Rock but the Israelites killed 5 000 of them there. Other Benjamin men tried to flee to the town of Gidom and 2 000 of them were killed there.

₄₆On that day 25 000 Benjamin men died. ₄₇Only 600 Benjamin men escaped and came to Rimmon Rock. They stayed there for 4 months. ₄₈The Israelite men turned_around and went back. They also killed Benjamin men and their animals in other towns, and they burnt down their towns.