Judges 20:18-39

¹⁸And they arose, and went up to Beth-el, and asked counsel of God; and the children of Israel said, Who of us shall go up at first to the battle with the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah, at first.

¹⁹And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gib'ah.

²⁰And the men of Israel went out to battle with Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in battle-array against them by Gib'ah.

²¹And the Children of Benjamin came forth out of Gib'ah, and struck down to the ground of the Israelites on that day twenty and two thousand men.

²²And the people the men of Israel took courage, and set themselves again in battle-array in the place where they had arrayed themselves on the first day.

²³And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until the evening, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, Shall I again approach to battle with the children of Benjamin my brother? And the Lord said, Go up against him.

²⁴And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin on the second day.

²⁵And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gib'ah on the second day, and struck down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men: all these were men that drew the sword.

²⁶Now all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto Beth-el, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted on that day until the evening, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord.

²⁷And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, (for there was the ark of the covenant of God in those days,

²⁸And Phinehas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, shall I yet continue to go out to battle with the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I forbear? And the Lord said, Go up; for tomorrow will I deliver him into thy hand.

²⁹And Israel sent men to lie in wait round about Gib'ah.

³⁰And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gib'ah, as at previous times.

³¹And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite some of the people, and kill, as at previous times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to Beth-el, and the other to Gib'ah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

³²And the children of Benjamin said, They are defeated before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways.

³³And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Ba'al-thamar: and those that lay in wait of Israel rushed forth out of their place, out of the meadows of Gib'ah.

³⁴And there came against Gib'ah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was severe; but they knew not that the evil was overtaking them.

³⁵And the Lord smote Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites on that day twenty and five thousand and one hundred men: all these were those that drew the sword.

³⁶And the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated; for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto those that lay in wait whom they had set against Gib'ah.

³⁷And those in ambush hastened, and spread themselves over Gib'ah; and those that lay in wait moved along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword.

³⁸Now there was an understanding between the men of Israel and those that lay in wait, that they should make an abundance of columns of smoke rise up out of the city.

³⁹And when the men of Israel turned round in the battle, and Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, Surely they are entirely defeated before us, as in the first battle: