Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD at Mizpah.
And the chiefs 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.
(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpah.) And the children of Israel said, Tell us, how was this wickedness brought to pass?
And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was murdered, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.
And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night; me they thought to have slain, and my concubine they forced, and she is dead.
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.
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.
Now therefore deliver up the men, the sons of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel.
And the children of Benjamin were numbered on that day out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.
And the children of Israel arose, and went up to Beth-el, and asked counsel of God; and they said, Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah {cf15i shall go up} first.
And the people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and set the battle again in array in the place where they set themselves in array the first day.
(And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until even; and they asked of the LORD, saying, Shall I again draw nigh to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.)
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.
Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto Beth-el, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
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 tomorrow I will deliver him into thine hand.
And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite and kill of the people, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to Beth-el, and the other to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us rise, and draw them away from the city unto the highways.
And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the liers in wait of Israel brake forth out of their place, even out of Maareh-geba.
And there came over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was close upon them.
And the LORD smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword.
So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to Benjamin, because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set against Gibeah.
And the men of Israel turned in the battle, and 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.:
But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the whole of the city went up {cf15i in smoke} to heaven.
Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them; and they which came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst thereof.
They enclosed the Benjamites round about, {cf15i and} chased them, {cf15i and} trode them down at {cf15i their} resting place, as far as over against Gibeah toward the sunrising.
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 followed hard after them unto Gidom, and smote of them two thousand men.
And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the cattle and all that they found: moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.