1 ¶ Then all the people of Israel came out, and the congregation rallied, to the LORD as one man in Mizpeh, from Dan even to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead.

2 And all the leaders of the people, from all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people, four hundred thousand infantrymen who carried swords.

3 (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpeh.) Then the children of Israel said, Tell us, how this wicked thing happened?

4 And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was slain, answered and said, I and my concubine went to Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night.

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

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 abomination and folly in Israel.

7 Behold, you are all children of Israel; give your advice and counsel.

8 And all the people arose as one man, saying, None of us will go to his tent, neither will any of us return to his house.

9 Now this is what we will do to Gibeah; we will march against it by lot;

10 And we will take ten men from a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to supply food for the men, so that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, they may deal with it according to all the folly that they have committed in Israel.

11 So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, bound together as one man.

12 ¶ And the tribes of Israel sent men through the entire tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you?

13 Now turn over to us the men, the children of Belial, who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel:

14 But the children of Benjamin from the other cities assembled at Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

15 And that day the children of Benjamin from the other cities numbered twenty-six thousand swordsmen, besides seven hundred picked men from Gibeah.

16 Among all these people there were seven hundred picked men who were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at an hair breadth, and not miss.

17 And the men of Israel, other than Benjamin, numbered four hundred thousand swordsmen: 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 asked, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah will go up first.

19 In the morning the children of Israel set out, and camped near Gibeah.

20 And the men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin; and the men of Israel arrayed themselves in battle against them at Gibeah.

21 And the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and killed twenty-two thousand men of the Israelites on the field that day.

22 But the men of Israel rallied, and reformed their battle line in the same place where they had formed it on the first day.

23 (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall we go up again to battle against our brethren the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Go up against them.)

24 So the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second day.

25 And Benjamin came out of Gibeah against them on the second day, and again killed eighteen thousand men of the children of Israel on the field; all of whom were swordsmen.

26 ¶ Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up to the house of God, and wept, and sat 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 inquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there at Bethel in those days,

28 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall we yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin our brethren, or shall we cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.

29 So Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah.

30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and arrayed themselves against Gibeah, as at other times.

31 And the children of Benjamin went out against their army, and were drawn away from the city; and as at other times they began to strike and kill some of the people, about thirty men of Israel in the highways, one of which goes up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the open country.

32 And the children of Benjamin said, They are being killed before us, as before. But the children of Israel said, Let us retreat, and draw them away from the city into the highways.

33 Then at Baaltamar all the men of Israel rose up from their places, and put themselves in array: and those of Israel waiting in ambush rushed out of their places in the meadows of Gibeah.

34 And there ten thousand chosen men from all over Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce: but they did not know that disaster was about to strike.

35 And the LORD dealt Benjamin a blow before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed twenty-five thousand one hundred men of the Benjamites that day: all of whom were swordsmen.

36 So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated: for the men of Israel gave ground to the Benjamites, because they were relying on those in ambush which they had set against Gibeah.

37 And the men in ambush rushed quickly upon Gibeah; and they advanced, and put the entire city to the sword.

38 Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and those in ambush, was that when they made a great cloud of smoke rise out of the city,

39 Then the men of Israel would turn back in battle. Now Benjamin had began to strike and kill some of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are falling before us, as in the first battle.

40 But when the flame began to arise out of the city with a cloud 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 around, the men of Benjamin were dismayed: for they saw that disaster had come upon them.

42 Therefore they turned their backs to the men of Israel and fled toward the desert; but the battle overtook them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst of them.

43 Thus they surrounded the Benjamites, pursued them, and easily overtook them opposite Gibeah to the east.

44 And there eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all of them men of valor.

45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon: and Israel cut down five thousand of their men in the highways; and they followed close after them to Gidom, and slew two thousand more of them.

46 So in all twenty-five thousand swordsmen of Benjamin fell that day; all of whom were men of valor.

47 But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness to the rock Rimmon, and remained in the rock Rimmon for four months.

48 And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword, all they found of men and beasts from every city: they also set all the cities that they came to on fire.