Judges 20-21New King James Version (NKJV)
Israel’s War with the Benjamites
20 So all the children of Israel came out, from
Dan to Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation
gathered together as one man before the Lord at Mizpah. 2 And
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 who
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?”
4 So the Levite, the husband of the
woman who was murdered, answered and said, “My concubine and I went into
Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night. 5 And
the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of
me. They intended to kill me, but instead they ravished my concubine so that
she died. 6 So I took hold of my concubine, cut her
in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of
Israel, because they committed lewdness and outrage in Israel. 7 Look!
All of you are children of Israel; give your advice and
counsel here and now!”
8 So all the people arose as one man,
saying, “None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn
back to his house; 9 but now this is the
thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up against it by
lot. 10 We 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.” 11 So
all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one
man.
12 Then the tribes of Israel sent men
through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this
wickedness that has occurred among you? 13 Now
therefore, deliver up the men, the perverted men [a] who are in
Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove the evil from Israel!” But the
children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the
children of Israel. 14 Instead, the children of
Benjamin gathered together from their cities to Gibeah, to go to battle against
the children of Israel. 15 And from their cities at
that time the children of Benjamin numbered twenty-six thousand men who drew
the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered seven hundred select
men. 16 Among all this people were seven
hundred select men who were left-handed; every one could sling
a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss. 17 Now
besides Benjamin, the men of Israel numbered four hundred thousand men who drew
the sword; all of these were men of war.
18 Then the children of Israel arose
and went up to the house of God[b] to inquire of God.
They said, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of
Benjamin?”
The Lord said, “Judah first!”
19 So the children of Israel rose 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 battle array to fight against them at Gibeah. 21 Then
the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day cut down to the
ground twenty-two thousand men of the Israelites. 22 And
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 Then 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.”
24 So the children of Israel
approached the children of Benjamin on the second day. 25 And
Benjamin 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.
26 Then all the children of Israel,
that is, all the people, went up and came to the house of God[c] 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. 27 So
the children of Israel inquired of the Lord (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 my brother
Benjamin, or shall I cease?”
And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will
deliver them into your hand.”
29 Then Israel set men in ambush all
around Gibeah. 30 And 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. 31 So
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 (one of which goes
up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah) and in the field, about thirty men of
Israel. 32 And 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.” 33 So 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. 34 And ten thousand select men from all
Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. But the
Benjamites[d] did not know that
disaster was upon them. 35 The Lord defeated
Benjamin before Israel. And the children of Israel destroyed that day
twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites; all these drew the sword.
36 So the children of Benjamin saw
that they were defeated. The men of Israel had given ground to the Benjamites,
because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against
Gibeah. 37 And 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. 38 Now the appointed signal
between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a
great cloud of smoke rise up from the city, 39 whereupon
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.” 40 But
when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, the Benjamites
looked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in smoke to
heaven. 41 And when the men of Israel turned back,
the men of Benjamin panicked, for they saw that disaster had come upon
them. 42 Therefore 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. 43 They surrounded the Benjamites,
chased them, and easily trampled them down as far as the front
of Gibeah toward the east. 44 And eighteen thousand
men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor. 45 Then
they[e] turned and fled toward
the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon; 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. 46 So all who fell of
Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all
these were men of valor.
47 But 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. 48 And 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.
Wives Provided for the Benjamites
21 Now the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah,
saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” 2 Then
the people came to the house of God,[f] and remained there
before God till evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly, 3 and
said, “O Lord God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel,
that today there should be one tribe missing in Israel?”
4 So it was, on the next morning,
that the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt
offerings and peace offerings. 5 The children of
Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who
did not come up with the assembly to the Lord?” For they had made a great
oath concerning anyone who had not come up to the Lord at Mizpah,
saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” 6 And
the children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “One tribe
is cut off from Israel today. 7 What shall we do
for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that
we will not give them our daughters as wives?”
8 And they said, “What one is
there from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Mizpah to
the Lord?” And, in fact, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to
the assembly. 9 For when the people were counted,
indeed, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead was there. 10 So
the congregation sent out there twelve thousand of their most valiant men, and
commanded them, saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with
the edge of the sword, including the women and children. 11 And
this is the thing that you shall do: You shall utterly destroy
every male, and every woman who has known a man intimately.” 12 So
they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins
who had not known a man intimately; and they brought them to the camp at
Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13 Then the whole congregation
sent word to the children of Benjamin who were at
the rock of Rimmon, and announced peace to them. 14 So
Benjamin came back at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had
saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead; and yet they had not found enough
for them.
15 And the people grieved for
Benjamin, because the Lord had made a void in the tribes of Israel.
16 Then the elders of the
congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the
women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” 17 And they
said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin,
that a tribe may not be destroyed from Israel. 18 However,
we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the children of Israel have
sworn an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the one who gives a wife to
Benjamin.’” 19 Then they said, “In fact, there
is a yearly feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is north
of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem,
and south of Lebonah.”
20 Therefore they instructed the
children of Benjamin, saying, “Go, lie in wait in the vineyards, 21 and
watch; and just when the daughters of Shiloh come out to perform their dances,
then come out from the vineyards, and every man catch a wife for himself from
the daughters of Shiloh; then go to the land of Benjamin. 22 Then
it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, that
we will say to them, ‘Be kind to them for our sakes, because we did not take a
wife for any of them in the war; for it is not as
though you have given the women to them at this time,
making yourselves guilty of your oath.’”
23 And the children of Benjamin did
so; they took enough wives for their number from those who danced, whom they
caught. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, and they rebuilt the
cities and dwelt in them. 24 So the children of
Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family;
they went out from there, every man to his inheritance.
25 In those days there was no
king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
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