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Judges 20
- 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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