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¹Then all the sons of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, came out, and the congregation assembled as one person to the LORD at Mizpah.

²And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, took their stand in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers who drew the sword.

³(Now the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the sons of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wickedness take place?”

⁴So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “I came with my concubine to spend the night at Gibeah which belongs to Benjamin.

⁵But the citizens of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night, threatening me. They intended to kill me; instead, they raped my concubine so that she died.

⁶And I took hold of my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance; for they have committed an outrageous sin and vile act in Israel.

⁷Behold, all you sons of Israel, give your response and advice here.”

⁸Then all the people rose up as one person, saying, “Not one of us will go to his tent, nor will any of us go home.

⁹But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up against it by lot.

¹⁰And we will take ten men out of a hundred throughout the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand to supply provisions for the people, so that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, they may punish them for all the vile sin that they have committed in Israel.”

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

¹²Then the tribes of Israel sent men through the entire tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has taken place among you?

¹³Now then, turn over the men, the worthless men who are in Gibeah, so that we may put them to death and remove this wickedness from Israel.” But the sons of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.

¹⁴Instead, the sons of Benjamin gathered from the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the sons of Israel.

¹⁵From the cities on that day the sons of Benjamin were counted, twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah who were counted, seven hundred choice men.

¹⁶Out of all these people seven hundred choice men were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

¹⁷Then the men of Israel besides Benjamin were counted, four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of war.

¹⁸Now the sons of Israel set out, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God and said, “Who shall go up first for us to battle against the sons of Benjamin?” Then the LORD said, “Judah shall go up first.”

¹⁹So the sons of Israel got up in the morning and camped against Gibeah.

²⁰The men of Israel went to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel lined up for battle against them at Gibeah.

²¹Then the sons of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and struck to the ground on that day twenty-two thousand men of Israel.

²²But the people, the men of Israel, showed themselves courageous and lined up for battle again in the place where they had lined themselves up on the first day.

²³And the sons of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall we again advance for battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin?” And the LORD said, “Go up against him.”

²⁴So the sons of Israel came against the sons of Benjamin on the second day.

²⁵And Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah the second day and struck to the ground again eighteen thousand men of the sons of Israel; all of these drew the sword.

²⁶Then all the sons of Israel and all the people went up and came to Bethel, and they wept and remained there before the LORD, and fasted that day until evening. And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

²⁷And the sons of Israel inquired of the LORD (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

²⁸and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, Aaron’s son, stood before it to minister in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin, or shall I stop?” And the LORD said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will hand them over to you.”

²⁹So Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah.

³⁰And the sons of Israel went up against the sons of Benjamin on the third day and lined up against Gibeah as at other times.

³¹When the sons of Benjamin went out against the people, they were lured away from the city, and they began to strike and kill some of the people as at other times, on the roads (one of which goes up to Bethel, and the other to Gibeah), and in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

³²And the sons of Benjamin said, “They are defeated before us, like the first time.” But the sons of Israel said, “Let’s flee, so that we may draw them away from the city to the roads.”

³³Then all the men of Israel rose from their place and lined up at Baal-tamar; and the men of Israel in ambush charged from their place, from Maareh-geba.

³⁴When ten thousand choice men from all Israel came against Gibeah, the battle became fierce; but Benjamin did not know that disaster was close to them.

³⁵And the LORD struck Benjamin before Israel, so that the sons of Israel destroyed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day, all who drew the sword.

³⁶So the sons of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. When the men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah,

³⁷the men in ambush hurried and rushed against Gibeah; the men in ambush also deployed and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.

³⁸Now the agreed sign between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise from the city.

³⁹Then the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill about thirty men of Israel, for they said, “Undoubtedly they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.”

⁴⁰But when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, Benjamin looked behind them; and behold, the entire city was going up in smoke to heaven.

⁴¹Then the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified; for they saw that disaster was close to them.

⁴²Therefore, they turned their backs before the men of Israel to flee in the direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them while those who attacked from the cities were annihilating them in the midst of them.

⁴³They surrounded Benjamin, pursued them without rest, and trampled them down opposite Gibeah toward the east.

⁴⁴So eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all of these were valiant men.

⁴⁵The rest turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, but they caught five thousand of them on the roads and overtook them at Gidom, and killed two thousand of them.

⁴⁶So all those of Benjamin who fell that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were valiant men.

⁴⁷But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon; and they remained at the rock of Rimmon for four months.

⁴⁸The men of Israel then turned back against the sons of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city with the cattle and all that they found; they also set on fire all the cities which they found.

¹Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin in marriage.”

²So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and raised their voices and wept profusely.

³And they said, “Why, LORD, God of Israel, has this happened in Israel, that one tribe is missing today from Israel?”

⁴And it came about the next day that the people got up early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

⁵Then the sons of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not go up to the LORD in the assembly?” For they had taken a solemn oath concerning anyone who did not go up to the LORD at Mizpah, saying, “He shall certainly be put to death.”

⁶And the sons of Israel were sorry for their brother Benjamin, and said, “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel!

⁷What are we to do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them any of our daughters as wives?”

⁸And they said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not go up to the LORD at Mizpah?” And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.

⁹For when the people were counted, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there.

¹⁰And the congregation sent twelve thousand of the valiant warriors there, and commanded them, saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, along with the women and the children.

¹¹And this is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has slept with a male.”

¹²And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known a man by sleeping with him; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

¹³Then the whole congregation sent word and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them.

¹⁴And the tribe of Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had allowed to live from the women of Jabesh-gilead; but they were not enough for them.

¹⁵And the people were sorry for Benjamin, because the LORD had created a gap in the tribes of Israel.

¹⁶Then the elders of the congregation said, “What are we to do for wives for those who are left, since the women have been eliminated from Benjamin?”

¹⁷And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be wiped out from Israel.

¹⁸But we cannot give them wives from our daughters.” For the sons of Israel had sworn, saying, “Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin!”

¹⁹So they said, “Behold, there is a feast of the LORD from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south side of Lebonah.”

²⁰And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,

²¹and watch; and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to take part in the dances, then you shall come out of the vineyards, and each of you shall seize his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

²²And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we shall say to them, ‘Give them to us voluntarily, because we did not take for each man of Benjamin a wife in battle, nor did you give them to them, otherwise you would now be guilty.’ ”

²³The sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from those who danced, whom they seized. And they went and returned to their inheritance, and rebuilt the cities and lived in them.

²⁴And the sons of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and each one departed from there to his inheritance.

²⁵In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.