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.
After receiving the Levite's rotting, body-part message (see
the last chapter for the gory details), the twelve tribes immediately assembled before the Lord in Mizpeh, along with the entire population of Israel and 400,000 soldiers.
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?
The children of Israel said,
What is 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.
And the Levite (the husband of the woman that was killed) said,
I came to Gibeah (that belongs to Benjamin) with my concubine to look for a place to stay.
And the men of Gibeah tried to kill me, but raped and killed my concubine instead. [1]
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.
So I cut my concubine into pieces and sent the pieces throughout Israel.
7 Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel.
You are all Israelites. What should be done about it?
8And 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.
When the Israelites heard this, all of the Israelites including the 400,000 soldiers said the following words together in complete unison:
None of us will go home.
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.
We will take 10% of our men to fight against Gibeah of Benjamin.
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.
The Israelites sent messengers to the tribe of Benjamin, saying,
What wickedness have you done?
Deliver to us the men of Gibeah so we can put them to death.
But the Benjaminites refused to hand over the "children of Belial" in the town of Gibeah.
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.
And the men of Benjamin gathered to fight against the rest of the Israelites.
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.
There were 26,000 Benjaminites, and 700 soldiers from Gibeah, plus 700 lefties who "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.
And against them were 400,000 soldiers from the other tribes of Israel.
18And 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.
The Israelites went to the house of God and asked him,
Which of us should go first to fight the children of Benjamin?
God said,
The tribe of Judah should go first.
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.
21And 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.
The Israelites (presumably from the tribe of Judah) fought the Benjaminites.
But God's plan didn't work out too well.
The tribe of Benjamin, with their sharp-shooting lefties, killed 22,000 men.
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.)
Then the children of Israel cry all day before the Lord, and ask him,
Should we go to war against Benjamin?
And God said,
Yes, go fight against them.
24 And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.
25And 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.
So they try it again, and another 18,000 Israelites are killed.
26Then 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.
Once again all of the Israelites sit and weep all day before God.
27And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
And they enquired of the Lord (because they had the ark of the covenant 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.
Phinehas (Aaron's grandson) stood in front of the ark and said,
Should I fight against the children of Benjamin?
God said,
Go fight against them; tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.
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.
So the children of Israel fought against Benjamin.
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.
And the children of Benjamin killed 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.
The men of Israel ran away from the city to 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.
But 10,000 men of Israel (liers in wait) rose up against Gibeah.
35And 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.
And God smote the tribe of Benjamin, helping the Israelites kill 25,100 men. [
3]
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.
The Israelite "liers in wait" killed everyone in the city of Gibeah with the edge of the sword.
44And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valour.
18,000 Benjamites ("men of valor") were killed by the Israelites.
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.
Another 5000 men of Benjamin were "gleaned" on the highways, and 2000 from Gidom.
46So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour.
So a total of 25,000 men of Benjamin were killed that day. (All were men of valor.) [
3]
47 But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months.
But six hundred men survived the god-assisted genocide of the tribe of Benjamin. [
4]
48And 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.
The Israelites finish their massacre of the Benjamites by killing all the men, animals, and everything they could find in every Benjamite city. Then they burned the cities to the ground. [
5]