The War with Benyamin (chapter 20 and 21)
Yisrael before Hashem at Mitzpeh; Benyamin warned
20:1 Then all benai Yisrael went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beer-Sheva, with the Eretz Gil'ad, to ADONAI (יהוה) in Mizpeh.
20:2 And the chief of all the people, [even] of all the Shivtei of Yisrael, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of Elohim (אלהים), four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.
20:3 (Now benai Benyamin heard that benai Yisrael were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said benai Yisrael, Tell [us], how was this wickedness?
20:4 And the Levi (לויּי), the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Giv'ah that [belongeth] to Benyamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.
20:5 And the men of Giv'ah rose against me, and beset the bayit round about upon me by night, [and] thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead.
20:6 And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Yisrael: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Yisrael.
20:7 Hinei, ye [are] all benai Yisrael; give here your advice and counsel.
20:8 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 bayit.
20:9 But now this [shall be] the thing which we will do to Giv'ah; [we will go up] by lot against it;
20:10 And we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the Shivtei of Yisrael, 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 Giv'ah of Benyamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Yisrael.
20:11 So all the men of Yisrael were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.
20:12 And the Shivtei of Yisrael sent men through all the Shivtei of Benyamin, saying, What wickedness [is] this that is done among you?
20:13 Now therefore deliver [us] the men, benai Belial, which [are] in Giv'ah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Yisrael. But benai Benyamin would not listen to the voice of their achim benai Yisrael:
20:14 But benai Benyamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Giv'ah, to go out to battle against benai Yisrael.
20:15 And benai Benyamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Giv'ah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.
20:16 Among all this people [there were] seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair [lechemth], and not miss.
20:17 And the men of Yisrael, beside Benyamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these [were] men of war.
20:18 And benai Yisrael arose, and went up to the bayit of Elohim (אלהים), and asked counsel of Elohim (אלהים), and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against benai Benyamin? And ADONAI (יהוה) said, Yehudah [shall go up] first.
20:19 And benai Yisrael rose up in the morning, and encamped against Giv'ah.
20:20 And the men of Yisrael went out to battle against Benyamin; and the men of Yisrael put themselves in array to fight against them at Giv'ah.
20:21 And benai Benyamin came forth out of Giv'ah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Yisraelites that day twenty and two thousand men.
20:22 And the people the men of Yisrael encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.
20:23 (And benai Yisrael went up and wept before ADONAI (יהוה) until even, and asked counsel of ADONAI (יהוה), saying, Shall I go up again to battle against benai Benyamin my brother? And ADONAI (יהוה) said, Go up against him.)
20:24 And benai Yisrael came near against benai Benyamin the second day.
20:25 And Benyamin went forth against them out of Giv'ah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of benai Yisrael again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.
20:26 Then all benai Yisrael, and all the people, went up, and came to the bayit of Elohim (אלהים), and wept, and sat there before ADONAI (יהוה), and fasted that day until even, and offered Olot and Shalom offerings before ADONAI (יהוה).
20:27 And benai Yisrael enquired of ADONAI (יהוה), (for the ark of the covenant of Elohim (אלהים) [was] there in those days,
20:28 And Phinehas, ben Eleazar, ben Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against benai Benyamin my brother, or shall I cease? And ADONAI (יהוה) said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into your hand.
20:29 And Yisrael set liers in wait round about Giv'ah.
20:30 And benai Yisrael went up against benai Benyamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Giv'ah, as at other times.
20:31 And benai Benyamin 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 bayit of Elohim (אלהים), and the other to Giv'ah in the field, about shloshim (30) men of Yisrael.
20:32 And benai Benyamin said, They [are] smitten down before us, as at the first. But benai Yisrael said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city to the highways.
20:33 And all the men of Yisrael rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at ba'al-Tamar: and the liers in wait of Yisrael came forth out of their places, [even] out of the meadows of Giv'ah.
20:34 And there came against Giv'ah ten thousand chosen men out of all Yisrael, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil [was] near them.
20:35 And ADONAI (יהוה) smote Benyamin before Yisrael: and benai Yisrael destroyed of Benyamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword.
20:36 So benai Benyamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Yisrael gave place to Benyamites, because they trusted to the liers in wait which they had set beside Giv'ah.
20:37 And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Giv'ah; and the liers in wait drew [themselves] along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword.
20:38 Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Yisrael and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city.
20:39 And when the men of Yisrael retired in the battle, Benyamin began to smite [and] kill of the men of Yisrael about shloshim (30) perbanim: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as [in] the first battle.
20:40 But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, Benyamites looked behind them, and, Hinei, the flame of the city ascended up to heaven.
20:41 And when the men of Yisrael turned again, the men of Benyamin were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them.
20:42 Therefore they turned [their backs] before the men of Yisrael to the way of the midbar; but the battle overtook them; and them which [came] out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them.
20:43 [Thus] they inclosed Benyamites round about, [and] chased them, [and] trode them down with ease over against Giv'ah toward the sunrising.
20:44 And there fell of Benyamin eighteen thousand men; all these [were] men of valour.
20:45 And they turned and fled toward the midbar to the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them to Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.
20:46 So that all which fell that day of Benyamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these [were] men of valour.
20:47 But six hundred men turned and fled to the midbar to the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months.
20:48 And the men of Yisrael turned again upon benai Benyamin, 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.