Judges 20 The Israelites avenge the outrage done to the Levite

 Judges 20

The Israelites avenge the outrage done to the Levite

1 Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation came together, as if they were one man, from Dan to Beersheba, as well as the land of Gilead, to the Lord in Mizpah.

2 And out of the corners of all the people there came out of all the tribes of Israel in the congregation of the people of God four hundred thousand standing men who drew the sword.

3 (Then the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah) and the children of Israel said, Speak, how did this wickedness happen?

4 Then answered the Levite man, the husband of the woman who had been killed, and said, I came to Gibeah, the city of Benjamin, with my concubine to spend the night;

5 And the citizens of Gibeah rose up against me, and surrounded the house at night: they tried to kill me, and raped my concubine, so that she died.

6 Then I took my concubine, and broke it to pieces, and sent it throughout the land of Israel's inheritance: because they did such evil and madness in Israel.

7 Behold, you are all children of Israel: give your word and counsel here.

8 Then all the people arose as one man, saying, None of us will go to his tent, nor will any of us go to his house.

9 But this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will proceed against it by luck.

10 And we will take ten men out of a hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of a thousand, and out of a thousand out of ten thousand, to take food for the people: so that when they come to the Gibeah of Benjamin, they may do to him according to all the madness he has. made in Israel.

11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against this city, allied as one man.

12 And the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What is this evil that has been done among you?

13 Give us now those men, the sons of Belial, who are in Gibeah, that we may kill them and bring evil out of Israel: but the sons of Benjamin did not want to hear the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.

14 Before, the children of Benjamin came together from the cities in Gibeah, to go out to fight against the children of Israel.

15 And the children of Benjamin, from the cities, were numbered that day, twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, of which seven hundred chosen men were numbered.

16 Among all these people there were seven hundred chosen, left-handed men, all of whom threw a stone at a hair with a sling and did not err.

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

18 And they raised up the children of Israel, and went up to Bethel, and asked God, and said, Who among us will go up first to fight against Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah will go up first.

19 So the children of Israel arose in the morning, and camped against Gibeah.

20 And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel ordered against them the battle at Gibeah.

21 Then the sons of Benjamin went out of Gibeah, and overthrew twenty-two thousand Israelites that day.

22 But the people of the men of Israel made an effort, and they again ordered the battle in the place where they had commanded it on the first day.

23 And the children of Israel went up, and wept before the Lord until evening, and asked the Lord, saying, Shall I return to the battle against the children of Benjamin, my brother? And the Lord said, Go up against him.

24 So the children of Israel came to the children of Benjamin the next day.

25 The men of Benjamin also met them outside Gibeah the next day, and brought down another eighteen thousand men to the ground, all of whom drew the sword.

26 Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and stood there before the Lord, and fasted that day until evening: and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

27 And the children of Israel asked 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 him in those days), saying, Shall I go out still to fight against the children of Benjamin, my brother, or shall I stop? And the Lord said, Go up, that tomorrow I will hand you over.

29 Then Israel set ambushes around Gibeah.

30 And the children of Israel went up on the third day against the children of Benjamin, and ordered the battle with Gibeah as before.

31 Then the sons of Benjamin went out to meet the people, and turned aside from the city: and began to smite some of the people, crossing them, as at other times, through the paths (one of which goes up to Bethel, the other to Gibeah by the field), some thirty of the men of Israel.

32 Then the sons of Benjamin said, They are defeated before us as before. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and let them go out of the city and into the paths.

33 Then all the men of Israel arose from their place, and ordered the battle at Baal-Tamar: and the ambush of Israel came out of its place, from the cave of Gibeah.

34 And ten thousand chosen men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle became pregnant: but they did not know that evil would touch them.

35 Then the Lord smote Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed that day twenty-five thousand and one hundred men of Benjamin, all of whom drew sword.

36 And the sons of Benjamin saw that they were wounded: because the men of Israel gave way to the Benjaminites, because they were confident in the ambush that they had set against Gibeah.

37 And the ambush hurried and attacked Gibeah: and the ambush struck against it and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword.

38 And the children of Israel had a determined signal with the ambush, which was to raise the city a great cloud of smoke.

39 So the men of Israel turned in the battle: and Benjamin was already beginning to wound, from the men of Israel, almost thirty men, crossing them, because they said: they are already unfailingly defeated before us, as in the past battle.

40 Then the cloud of smoke began to rise from the city, like a pillar of smoke: and as Benjamin turned to look behind him, behold, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky.

41 And the men of Israel turned their faces away, and the men of Benjamin were astonished; because they saw that evil would touch them.

42 And they turned their backs before the men of Israel, towards the desert path: but the battle tightened them; and those in the cities undid them in their midst.

43 And they surrounded Benjamin, and followed him, and trampled him at will, even before Gibeah, into the rising of the sun.

44 And eighteen thousand men fell from Benjamin, all of whom were valiant men.

45 Then they turned their backs and fled into the wilderness, at the rim of Rimmon; they also took about five thousand men from their paths: and they followed them closely to Gideon, and wounded two thousand men from them.

46 And it was all that from Benjamin that day fell twenty-five thousand men that drew the sword, all of them brave men.

47 But six hundred men turned their backs and fled into the desert at Rimon's rock: and stayed at Rimon's rock for four months.

48 And the children of Israel returned to the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, from the men of the city to the animals, all that was there, and also to all the cities that were found were set on fire.