| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Then the entire Israeli nation—from Dan to Beer-sheba, including the territory of Gilead—came out for war. The army assembled as one united force to God at Mizpah. | 1All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba and from the land of Gilead left their homes and assembled together before the LORD at Mizpah. |
| 2The officials of the entire nation, including every tribe of Israel, took their stand in the assembly of the people of God: 400,000 foot soldiers, all of them expert swordsmen. | 2The leaders of all the people from all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God's people, which numbered four hundred thousand sword-wielding foot soldiers. |
| 3While the descendants of Benjamin were learning that the Israelis had gone up to Mizpah, the Israelis asked, "Somebody tell us how this evil could happen?" | 3The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. Then the Israelites said, "Explain how this wicked thing happened!" |
| 4So the descendant of Levi, the husband of the murdered woman, spoke up and replied, "I came to spend the night at Gibeah, which is part of Benjamin, along with my mistress. | 4The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, spoke up, "I and my concubine stopped in Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin to spend the night. |
| 5But the officials of Gibeah attacked me and surrounded the house because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they tortured my mistress to death. | 5The leaders of Gibeah attacked me and at night surrounded the house where I was staying. They wanted to kill me; instead they abused my concubine so badly that she died. |
| 6So I grabbed my mistress, cut her in pieces, and sent her remains throughout the territory of Israel's inheritance, because they've committed a vile, stupid outrage in Israel. | 6I grabbed hold of my concubine and carved her up and sent the pieces throughout the territory occupied by Israel, because they committed such an unthinkable atrocity in Israel. |
| 7So look, all you Israelis! Speak up and give us your advice!" | 7All you Israelites, make a decision here!" |
| 8Then the entire army stood up as a single unit and declared, "Nobody's going back to his tent, and nobody's going home! | 8All Israel rose up in unison and said, "Not one of us will go home! Not one of us will return to his house! |
| 9This is what we'll do to Gibeah: we're going to assemble an army by lottery. | 9Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: We will attack the city as the lot dictates. |
| 10We'll take ten men out of 100 from all of the tribes of Israel. We'll appoint 100 out of 1,000 and 1,000 out of 10,000 to supply provisions for the army. And when we reach Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin, we'll punish them for all of the stupid things that they've done in Israel." | 10We will take ten of every group of a hundred men from all the tribes of Israel (and a hundred of every group of a thousand, and a thousand of every group of ten thousand) to get supplies for the army. When they arrive in Gibeah of Benjamin they will punish them for the atrocity which they committed in Israel." |
| 11That's how the army of Israel came to be gathered together to attack the city, united as a single unit. | 11So all the men of Israel gathered together at the city as allies. |
| 12The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the entire tribe of Benjamin to ask them, "What is this evil thing that has occurred among you? | 12The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, "How could such a wicked thing take place? |
| 13Now then, hand over the men—those ungodly men, and we'll execute them in order to remove this evil from Israel." But the descendants of Benjamin wouldn't obey the request of their own relatives, the Israelis, | 13Now, hand over the good-for-nothings in Gibeah so we can execute them and purge Israel of wickedness." But the Benjaminites refused to listen to their Israelite brothers. |
| 14so the descendants of Benjamin assembled from the cities of Gibeah to fight the Israelis in battle. | 14The Benjaminites came from their cities and assembled at Gibeah to make war against the Israelites. |
| 15The day of the battle, the army from the descendants of Benjamin numbered 26,000 expert swordsmen from their cities, not including the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered 700 special forces soldiers. | 15That day the Benjaminites mustered from their cities twenty-six thousand sword-wielding soldiers, besides seven hundred well-trained soldiers from Gibeah. |
| 16Out of all these soldiers, 700 of them were left-handed—and each one could sling a stone at a hair and never miss. | 16Among this army were seven hundred specially-trained left-handed soldiers. Each one could sling a stone and hit even the smallest target. |
| 17But the Israeli army—not counting the tribe of Benjamin—numbered 400,000 expert swordsmen, all of them battle-hardened soldiers. | 17The men of Israel (not counting Benjamin) had mustered four hundred thousand sword-wielding soldiers, every one an experienced warrior. |
| 18The Israelis mounted up, traveled to Bethel, and asked God what to do. They said, "Who is to lead us in our opening attack against the descendants of Benjamin?" The LORD replied, "Judah is to open the attack." | 18The Israelites went up to Bethel and asked God, "Who should lead the charge against the Benjaminites?" The LORD said, "Judah should lead." |
| 19So the Israelis got up in the morning, encamped near Gibeah, | 19The Israelites got up the next morning and moved against Gibeah. |
| 20and the army of Israel went out to fight the tribe of Benjamin, assembling in battle array against them at Gibeah. | 20The men of Israel marched out to fight Benjamin; they arranged their battle lines against Gibeah. |
| 21The descendants of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and 22,000 soldiers of Israel fell in battle that day. | 21The Benjaminites attacked from Gibeah and struck down twenty-two thousand Israelites that day. |
| 22But the army—the men of Israel—encouraged themselves and arrayed for battle again the next day in the same place where they had gathered the day before. | 22The Israelite army took heart and once more arranged their battle lines, in the same place where they had taken their positions the day before. |
| 23From there the Israelis went up and wept in the LORD's presence until evening. Then they asked the LORD, "Should we attack the descendants of Benjamin again?" The LORD replied, "Attack them." | 23The Israelites went up and wept before the LORD until evening. They asked the LORD, "Should we again march out to fight the Benjaminites, our brothers?" The LORD said, "Attack them!" |
| 24So the Israelis attacked the descendants of Benjamin for a second day, | 24So the Israelites marched toward the Benjaminites the next day. |
| 25and the tribe of Benjamin went to war against them from Gibeah during that second day, and 18,000 soldiers from the Israelis—all of them expert swordsmen—fell to the ground. | 25The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers. |
| 26All the Israelis, including its army, went up from there to Bethel and wept, remaining there in the LORD's presence, fasting throughout the day until dusk, when they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings in the LORD's presence. | 26So all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel. They wept and sat there before the LORD; they did not eat anything that day until evening. They offered up burnt sacrifices and tokens of peace to the LORD. |
| 27The Israelis inquired of the LORD, since the Ark of the Covenant was there at that time | 27The Israelites asked the LORD (for the ark of God's covenant was there in those days; |
| 28while Eleazar's son Phinehas, a descendant of Aaron, served before it in those days. They asked, "Should we go out to war again against the descendants of our relative Benjamin, or shall we cease?" And the LORD answered, "Go out, and tomorrow I will deliver them into your control." | 28Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving the LORD in those days), "Should we once more march out to fight the Benjaminites our brothers, or should we quit?" The LORD said, "Attack, for tomorrow I will hand them over to you." |
| 29So Israel set soldiers in ambush around Gibeah. | 29So Israel hid men in ambush outside Gibeah. |
| 30The Israelis went out against the descendants of Benjamin on the third day, arraying themselves against Gibeah as they had done previously. | 30The Israelites attacked the Benjaminites the next day; they took their positions against Gibeah just as they had done before. |
| 31They attacked the army and were drawn away from the city as they began to inflict casualties on the soldiers along the roads to Bethel and Gibeah, just as they had done the other times. About 30 soldiers from Israel fell in battle there and in the fields. | 31The Benjaminites attacked the army, leaving the city unguarded. They began to strike down their enemy just as they had done before. On the main roads (one leads to Bethel, the other to Gibeah) and in the field, they struck down about thirty Israelites. |
| 32Then the descendants of Benjamin told themselves, "They're falling right in front of us, just like before!" But the army of Israel told themselves, "Let's draw them away by escaping to the highways from the city." | 32Then the Benjaminites said, "They are defeated just as before." But the Israelites said, "Let's retreat and lure them away from the city into the main roads." |
| 33So the entire army of Israel moved from their location and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamer while that part of their army moved from their ambush positions from Maareh-geba. | 33All the men of Israel got up from their places and took their positions at Baal Tamar, while the Israelites hiding in ambush jumped out of their places west of Gibeah. |
| 34As 10,000 of Israel's best soldiers came to fight Gibeah, the battle became fierce, but the army of Benjamin didn't know that disaster was close at hand. | 34Ten thousand men, well-trained soldiers from all Israel, then made a frontal assault against Gibeah--the battle was fierce. But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was at their doorstep. |
| 35The LORD struck Benjamin in the full view of Israel. As a result, the Israelis destroyed 25,100 soldiers of Benjamin that day, all expert swordsmen. | 35The LORD annihilated Benjamin before Israel; the Israelites struck down that day 25,100 sword-wielding Benjaminites. |
| 36Then the descendants of Benjamin realized that they had been defeated. The army of Israel pretended to retreat from the army of Benjamin, knowing that they had set some soldiers in ambush near Gibeah. | 36Then the Benjaminites saw they were defeated. The Israelites retreated before Benjamin, because they had confidence in the men they had hid in ambush outside Gibeah. |
| 37The soldiers in ambush rushed out to attack Gibeah, deploying in force and executing the entire city with swords. | 37The men hiding in ambush made a mad dash to Gibeah. They attacked and put the sword to the entire city. |
| 38Meanwhile, the army of Israel had arranged to signal their soldiers who had been hiding in ambush by sending up a cloud of smoke from the city. | 38The Israelites and the men hiding in ambush had arranged a signal. When the men hiding in ambush sent up a smoke signal from the city, |
| 39The army of Israel turned around in the battle, and the army of Benjamin began to attack and kill about 30 soldiers, thinking, "Now we're really defeating them, just like before." | 39the Israelites counterattacked. Benjamin had begun to strike down the Israelites; they struck down about thirty men. They said, "There's no doubt about it! They are totally defeated as in the earlier battle." |
| 40But then the smoke began to rise from the city in a column. The army of Benjamin observed behind them that the whole city was going up in flames straight into the sky! | 40But when the signal, a pillar of smoke, began to rise up from the city, the Benjaminites turned around and saw the whole city going up in a cloud of smoke that rose high into the sky. |
| 41At that point, as the army of Israel turned back to face the army of Benjamin, the army of Benjamin was filled with terror, because they realized that disaster was about to overtake them. | 41When the Israelites turned around, the Benjaminites panicked because they could see that disaster was on their doorstep. |
| 42So they turned tail and ran away from the army of Israel toward the wilderness, but they were overtaken in battle when soldiers came out from the cities to destroy them. | 42They retreated before the Israelites, taking the road to the wilderness. But the battle overtook them as men from the surrounding cities struck them down. |
| 43They surrounded the army of Benjamin, pursuing them ceaselessly until they defeated them near the east-facing border of Gibeah. | 43They surrounded the Benjaminites, chased them from Nohah, and annihilated them all the way to a spot east of Geba. |
| 44That's how 18,000 men from the tribe of Benjamin fell in battle, all of whom were valiant soldiers. | 44Eighteen thousand Benjaminites, all of them capable warriors, fell dead. |
| 45The rest of them turned and ran into the wilderness in the direction of the rock of Rimmon, but 5,000 of them were killed on the highways while 2,000 of them were overtaken and killed near Gidom. | 45The rest turned and ran toward the wilderness, heading toward the cliff of Rimmon. But the Israelites caught five thousand of them on the main roads. They stayed right on their heels all the way to Gidom and struck down two thousand more. |
| 46To sum up, the soldiers from the tribe of Benjamin who died that day totaled 25,000 men, all of them expert swordsmen and valiant soldiers. | 46That day twenty-five thousand sword-wielding Benjaminites fell in battle, all of them capable warriors. |
| 47However, 600 soldiers ran into the wilderness in the direction of the rock of Rimmon, where they remained as fugitives for four months. | 47Six hundred survivors turned and ran away to the wilderness, to the cliff of Rimmon. They stayed there four months. |
| 48Meanwhile, the army of Israel went back to fight the surviving descendants of Benjamin. They attacked the entire city with swords, including its cattle and everyone they could find. Then they set fire to all of the cities that they could find. | 48The Israelites returned to the Benjaminite towns and put the sword to them. They wiped out the cities, the animals, and everything they could find. They set fire to every city in their path. |
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