Judges 20

Israel Rises Up for Justice

1 All the tribes of Israel came together, from Dan to Beersheba, even across the Jordan. They pulled up to Mizpah, all the soldiers ready for war, united like one crew.

2 The top dogs from every tribe took their spots, 400,000 deep, all of them trained fighters, ready to go.

3 The tribe of Benjamin heard about the meeting, but they did not show up. The rest of Israel asked, “Tell us what went down.”

4 The Levite, the husband of the woman who got abused, stood up and said,

5 “My girl and I went to Gibeah, in Benjamin’s territory, to spend the night. But some wild dudes from the city surrounded the house. They wanted to kill me, but instead they raped my woman so bad, she died.”

6 “I took her body home, cut her in twelve pieces, and sent them all over Israel. I had to show you all how evil this was.”

7 “You all heard it. Now you all must decide what to do.”

Israel Declares War on Benjamin

8 All the people stood up like one squad and said, “Nobody is going home till we deal with this.”

9 “We are going to draw lots and go against Gibeah.”

10 “We will pick out 10 men from every 100, 100 from every 1,000, and 1,000 from every 10,000 to gather supplies for the army. Then we go handle Gibeah for the evil they did.”

11 All Israel stood together, ready to ride on that city like one unit.

Benjamin Refuses to Listen

12 Israel sent messengers to the tribe of Benjamin saying, “Turn over them evil dudes from Gibeah who did that sick stuff. They need to die, and we must clean this mess up.”

13 But the Benjaminites refused. They said, “Nah,” and instead got ready to go to war against the rest of Israel.

14 The whole tribe of Benjamin came out of their towns to defend Gibeah.

15 They had 26,000 soldiers plus 700 elite warriors from Gibeah.

16 These 700 were nasty with the sling, left-handed sharpshooters who could hit a hair and not miss.

17 The rest of Israel had 400,000 soldiers, all battle-tested.

Israel Asks God First

18 Israel went to Bethel and asked God, “Who should lead the charge?” God said, “Let Judah go first.”

19 The next morning, Israel moved in on Gibeah.

20 They got in battle position and lined up to fight the Benjaminites.

21 But Benjamin came out and laid them out, 22,000 Israelite soldiers dropped that day.

Israel Seeks God Again

22 But Israel did not quit. They encouraged each other and got back in formation where they had been before.

23 Then they went back to God and cried all day. They asked, “Should we go back tomorrow and fight our brothers from Benjamin?” The Lord said, “Yeah. Go.”

24 So Israel went out again against Benjamin.

25 But Benjamin came out again and laid out another 18,000 of Israel’s soldiers.

Israel Humbles Themselves

26 Then all Israel went up to Bethel and sat before the Lord crying, fasting till night, and offering sacrifices.

27 They asked the Lord again what to do. The Ark of God was there at that time,

28 And Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson, was serving as priest. They asked, “Should we keep fighting or stop?” The Lord said, “Go tomorrow, I am giving them into your hands.”

The Trap Is Set

29 Israel set an ambush around Gibeah.

30 They came up on the third day and lined up like before.

31 Benjamin came out again, drawing the Israelites away from the city. They started dropping men again like the last two days.

32 They thought, “We got them again!” But Israel had a setup ready, they were drawing them into the trap.

33 The main army pulled back, and the ambush crew jumped out of their hiding spots from the west.

34 10,000 elite fighters from Israel rushed Gibeah. The battle was on, and Benjamin did not realize the trap was working.

35 God handed Benjamin over to Israel. They killed 25,100 of their men that day, all skilled fighters.

The City Burns

36 When Benjamin saw they were losing, Israel gave ground on purpose to let the ambush take over.

37 The ambush crew rushed into Gibeah, wiped it out, and set the whole place on fire.

38 Israel had a signal, when they saw the smoke rising from the city, they would turn back and attack.

39 Benjamin thought they were winning at first, but then they looked back and saw smoke rising high from the city.

40 The fire was thick, going up into the sky. That is when they knew they were done for.

41 Israel turned around, and the Benjaminites panicked. They knew this was not like before, this was divine judgment.

Benjamin Gets Wiped Out

42 They tried to run toward the desert, but Israel stayed on their heels, cutting them down as they went.

43 They surrounded them, chased them, and crushed them east of Gibeah.

44 18,000 Benjaminites died right there, all warriors.

45 Some tried to run to the rock of Rimmon, but Israel caught and killed another 5,000 along the roads and 2,000 more after that.

46 Total casualties for Benjamin that day: 25,000 men.

47 Only 600 made it out alive and hid at the rock of Rimmon for four months.

Gibeah Is Destroyed

48 Then Israel went through every town in Benjamin’s territory, killing everything they saw and burning the cities down.