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Judges
Chapter 20
1 Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation
was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the
land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh.
2 And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of
Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four
hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.
3 (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel
were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how
was this wickedness?
4 And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered
and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my
concubine, to lodge.
5 And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round
about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine
have they forced, that 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 lewdness and folly in Israel.
7 Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and
counsel.
8 And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of
us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house.
9 But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we
will go up by lot against it;
10 And we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes
of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten
thousand, to fetch victual for the people, that they may do, when they
come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have
wrought in Israel.
11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against 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 done among you?
13 Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which
are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from
Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of
their brethren the children of Israel:
14 But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of
the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of
Israel.
15 And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of
the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the
inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.
16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men
lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not
miss.
17 And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four
hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.
18 And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of
God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first
to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said,
Judah shall go up first.
19 And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped
against 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 forth out of Gibeah, and
destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two
thousand men.
22 And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set
their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in
array the first day.
23 (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD
until even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again
to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD
said, Go up against him.)
24 And the children of Israel came near against the children of
Benjamin the second day.
25 And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second
day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again
eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.
26 Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up,
and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the
LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and
peace offerings before the LORD.
27 And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of
the covenant of God was there in those days,
28 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before
it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against
the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD
said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.
29 And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah.
30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of
Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah,
as at other times.
31 And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and
were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people,
and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to
the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty
men of Israel.
32 And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before
us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and
draw them from the city unto the highways.
33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put
themselves in array at Baaltamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came
forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah.
34 And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all
Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near
them.
35 And the LORD smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of
Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand
and an hundred men: all these drew the sword.
36 So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the
men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto
the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah.
37 And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the
liers in wait drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the
edge of the sword.
38 Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and
the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise
up out of the city.
39 And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began
to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they
said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle.
40 But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a
pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the
flame of the city ascended up to heaven.
41 And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin
were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them.
42 Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto
the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and them which
came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them.
43 Thus they inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them,
and trode them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sunrising.
44 And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were
men of valour.
45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of
Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and
pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.
46 So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five
thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour.
47 But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the
rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months.
48 And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of
Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of
every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on
fire all the cities that they came to.