1 All the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, went and gathered at Mizpah before the Lord. The assembly was united in purpose. 2 The leaders of all the people of every Israelite tribe took their assigned positions in the assembled army of God's people, four hundred thousand soldiers armed with swords. 3 The tribe of Benjamin found out that the Israelites had assembled at Mizpah. The Israelites asked, “Tell us, how could such an evil act have happened?”

4 The Levite, the husband of the woman who had been murdered, explained, “I and my concubine came to spend the night at the town of Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin. 5 The leaders of Gibeah came to attack me at night. They surrounded the house, intending to kill me.* It's interesting that the Levite glosses over the intended homosexual rape and instead states that this was a case of attempted murder. They raped my concubine and she died. 6 I took my concubine and cut her into pieces, and I sent these pieces of her to every part of the country that had been given to Israel, because those men had done something shameful and disgusting in Israel. 7 So all of you Israelites have to decide here and now what you're going to do about it!”

8 Everyone stood up and unitedly declared, “None of us are going home to our tents! None of us are going home to our houses! 9 This is what we're going to do to Gilboah: we will attack it with our forces chosen by lot. 10 We'll take ten men from a hundred from all the Israelite tribes, then a hundred from a thousand, then a thousand from ten thousand, to arrange food for the army, so when the troops reach Gibeah in Benjamin, they can pay them back for all these disgusting things they've done in Israel.”

11 All the men of Israel were in agreement and gathered to attack the town. 12 The Israelite tribes also sent men throughout the territory of Benjamin, asking the people, “What are you doing about this terrible evil that has taken place among you? 13 Hand over these wicked men so we can execute them and get rid of this evil from Israel!” But the Benjamites refused to listen to what their fellow Israelites had to say. 14 They left their towns and assembled at Gibeah to go and fight the other Israelites. 15 That day a total of twenty-six thousand men armed with swords were called up from the towns of Benjamin, in addition to the seven hundred seasoned warriors from Gibeah. 16 Making up part of this army were seven hundred experienced soldiers who used their left hands. All of them could fire a slingshot and not miss by even a hair's breadth. 17 The Israelite army (excluding Benjamin) numbered four hundred thousand seasoned warriors, all armed with swords.

18 The Israelites went to Bethel and asked God, “Which ones of us should be the first to go and fight the Benjamites?”

“Judah is to go first,” the Lord replied. 19 The next morning the Israelites left and set up their camp near Gibeah. 20 Then they marched out for battle with the army of Benjamin, taking up their positions to attack Gibeah. 21 But the Benjamites came out of Gibeah and slaughtered twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that day.

22 But the Israelites encouraged one other to be confident, and they took up the same positions they had on the first day. 23 The Israelites went and cried before the Lord until the evening and asked, “Should we go and attack the Benjamites again, our relatives?”

“Go and attack them,” the Lord replied.

24 So the second day they advanced to attack the army of Benjamin. 25 However, Benjamites came out of Gibeah once more and slaughtered eighteen thousand Israelites, all armed with swords.

26 Then all the Israelites and all their army went to Bethel, and sat crying there before the Lord. That day they fasted until evening and gave burnt offerings and friendship offerings to the Lord. 27 The Israelites asked the Lord what to do. At that time the Ark of God's Agreement was kept there. 28 Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron, was the priest. The Israelites asked the Lord, “Should go and we fight again against our relatives from Benjamin, or not?”

“Yes, go! Tomorrow I will hand them over to you,” the Lord replied.

29 Then the Israelites set up an ambush around Gibeah. 30 On the third day they took up the same positions they had as before. 31 The Benjamites came out to attack them and were lured away from the town as they began to kill Israelites as they had before. Some thirty Israelites died on the battlefield and along the roads, the one that goes towards Bethel and the other that goes back towards Gibeah.

32 “We're defeating them, just like before,” the Benjamites shouted.

But the Israelites said, “Let's run away from them and lure them away from the town towards the roads.”

33 The main army of Israelites left where they were and took up positions at Baal-tamar, while those in the ambush west of Gibeah charged out to attack from where they had been hiding. 34 Ten thousand seasoned Israelite warriors attacked Gibeah, and the fighting was so intense the Benjamites didn't realize they were on the brink of disaster. 35 So the Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel. That day the Israelites killed twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites, all armed with swords. 36 The Benjamites saw that they were defeated.

The Israelites had fallen back before the Benjamites because they were confident the ambush they had put in place near Gibeah would be successful. 37 The men from the ambush raced to attack the town, and they killed everyone in it. 38 The agreement was that they would send up a great cloud of smoke to show the town had fallen.† “Show the town had fallen”: supplied for clarity. 39 The Israelite army turned to attack the Benjamites, who had already killed about thirty Israelites. The Benjamites were saying, “We're completely defeating them, just like the first battle!”

40 However, when the Israelites saw the columns of smoke rising heavenwards to form a great cloud over the whole of the town, 41 they turned on their enemies. The Benjamites were horrified when they saw it and realized they were doomed. 42 They turned and ran from the Israelites towards the desert, but the battle caught up with them, and the Israelites also killed those who left the towns on the way. 43 Chasing after the Benjamites, the Israelites surrounded them, easily overtaking them east of Gibeah. 44 Eighteen thousand Benjamites were killed, all of them courageous warriors. 45 Some of the Benjamites that were left ran towards Pomegranate Rock in the desert, and the Israelites killed another five thousand men on the way. They chased another group of Benjamites as far as Gidom and killed another thousand.

46 So that day twenty-five thousand Benjamite were killed, all armed with swords and all courageous warriors. 47 There were six hundred who ran away to Pomegranate Rock in the desert and they stayed there four months. 48 The Israelites went back into the territory of the Benjamites, and going from town to town, they killed everything: people, animals, everything they found. Then they burned down every town on their way.