Judges 20
20
Israel’s War with the Benjamites
1So #Josh. 22:12; Judg. 20:11; 21:5all the children of Israel came out, from #Judg. 18:29; 1 Sam. 3:20; 2 Sam. 3:10; 24:2Dan to #Josh. 19:2Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the Lord #Judg. 10:17; 1 Sam. 7:5at Mizpah. 2And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers #Judg. 8:10who drew the sword. 3(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.)
Then the children of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wicked deed happen?”
4So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “My concubine and #Judg. 19:15I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night. 5#Judg. 19:22And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, #Judg. 19:25, 26but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died. 6So #Judg. 19:29I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they #Josh. 7:15committed lewdness and outrage in Israel. 7Look! All of you are children of Israel; #Judg. 19:30give your advice and counsel here and now!”
8So all the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house; 9but now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up #Judg. 1:3against it by lot. 10We will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to make provisions for the people, that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin, they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel.” 11So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man.
12#Deut. 13:14; Josh. 22:13, 16Then the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has occurred among you? 13Now therefore, deliver up the men, #Deut. 13:13; Judg. 19:22the perverted men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and #Deut. 17:12; 1 Cor. 5:13remove the evil from Israel!” But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. 14Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to Gibeah, to go to battle against the children of Israel. 15And from their cities at that time #Num. 1:36, 37; 2:23; 26:41the children of Benjamin numbered twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered seven hundred select men. 16Among all this people were seven hundred select men who were #Judg. 3:15; 1 Chr. 12:2left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss. 17Now besides Benjamin, the men of Israel numbered four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of war.
18Then the children of Israel arose and #Judg. 20:23, 26went up to the house of God to #Num. 27:21inquire of God. They said, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?”
The Lord said, #Judg. 1:1, 2“Judah first!”
19So the children of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. 20And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel put themselves in battle array to fight against them at Gibeah. 21Then #(Gen. 49:27)the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day cut down to the ground twenty-two thousand men of the Israelites. 22And the people, that is, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves and again formed the battle line at the place where they had put themselves in array on the first day. 23#Judg. 20:26, 27Then the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, “Shall I again draw near for battle against the children of my brother Benjamin?”
And the Lord said, “Go up against him.”
24So the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second day. 25And #Judg. 20:21Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah on the second day, and cut down to the ground eighteen thousand more of the children of Israel; all these drew the sword.
26Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, #Judg. 20:18, 23; 21:2went up and came to the house of God and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 27So the children of Israel inquired of the Lord (#Josh. 18:1; 1 Sam. 1:3; 3:3; 4:3, 4the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28#Num. 25:7, 13; Josh. 24:33and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, #Deut. 10:8; 18:5stood before it in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?”
And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.”
29Then Israel #Josh. 8:4set men in ambush all around Gibeah. 30And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in battle array against Gibeah as at the other times. 31So the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city. They began to strike down and kill some of the people, as at the other times, in the highways #Judg. 21:19(one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah) and in the field, about thirty men of Israel. 32And the children of Benjamin said, “They are defeated before us, as at first.”
But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” 33So all the men of Israel rose from their place and put themselves in battle array at Baal Tamar. Then Israel’s men in ambush burst forth from their position in the plain of Geba. 34And ten thousand select men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. #Josh. 8:14; Job 21:13; Is. 47:11But the Benjamites did not know that disaster was upon them. 35The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel. And the children of Israel destroyed that day twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites; all these drew the sword.
36So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. #Josh. 8:15The men of Israel had given ground to the Benjamites, because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah. 37#Josh. 8:19And the men in ambush quickly rushed upon Gibeah; the men in ambush spread out and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword. 38Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of #Josh. 8:20smoke rise up from the city, 39whereupon the men of Israel would turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about thirty of the men of Israel. For they said, “Surely 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, the Benjamites #Josh. 8:20looked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in smoke to heaven. 41And when the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin panicked, for they saw that disaster had come upon them. 42Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them, and whoever came out of the cities they destroyed in their midst. 43They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily trampled them down as far as the front of Gibeah toward the east. 44And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor. 45Then they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of #Josh. 15:32; 1 Chr. 6:77; Zech. 14:10Rimmon; and they cut down five thousand of them on the highways. Then they pursued them relentlessly up to Gidom, and killed two thousand of them. 46So all who fell of Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all these were men of valor.
47#Judg. 21:13But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months. 48And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin, and struck them down with the edge of the sword—from every city, men and beasts, all who were found. They also set fire to all the cities they came to.
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Judges 20: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.