Judges 20
1 2
3 4 5
6 7 8
9 10 11
12 13
14 15
16 17
18 19
20 21
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.
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