| Holman Christian Standard Bible | NET Bible |
| 1All the Israelites from Dan to Beer-sheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the community assembled as one body before the LORD 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 leaders of all the people and of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God's people: 400,000 armed foot soldiers. | 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. |
| 3The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. The Israelites asked, "Tell us, how did this outrage occur?" | 3The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. Then the Israelites said, "Explain how this wicked thing happened!" |
| 4The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered: "I went to Gibeah in Benjamin with my concubine to spend the night. | 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. |
| 5Citizens of Gibeah ganged up on me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, but they raped my concubine, and she died. | 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. |
| 6Then I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout Israel's territory, because they committed a horrible shame 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. |
| 7Look, all of you are Israelites. Give your judgment and verdict here and now." | 7All you Israelites, make a decision here!" |
| 8Then all the people stood united and said, "None of us will go to his tent or return to his house. | 8All Israel rose up in unison and said, "Not one of us will go home! Not one of us will return to his house! |
| 9Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go against it by lot. | 9Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: We will attack the city as the lot dictates. |
| 10We will take 10 men out of every 100 from all the tribes of Israel, and 100 out of every 1,000, and 1,000 out of every 10,000 to get provisions for the people when they go to Gibeah in Benjamin to punish them for all the horror they did 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." |
| 11So all the men of Israel gathered united against the city. | 11So all the men of Israel gathered together at the city as allies. |
| 12Then the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, "What is this outrage 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? |
| 13Hand over the perverted men in Gibeah so we can put them to death and eradicate evil from Israel." But the Benjaminites would not obey their fellow Israelites. | 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. |
| 14Instead, the Benjaminites gathered together from their cities to Gibeah to go out and fight against the Israelites. | 14The Benjaminites came from their cities and assembled at Gibeah to make war against the Israelites. |
| 15On that day the Benjaminites rallied 26,000 armed men from their cities, besides 700 choice men rallied by the inhabitants of Gibeah. | 15That day the Benjaminites mustered from their cities twenty-six thousand sword-wielding soldiers, besides seven hundred well-trained soldiers from Gibeah. |
| 16There were 700 choice men who were left-handed among all these people; all could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. | 16Among this army were seven hundred specially-trained left-handed soldiers. Each one could sling a stone and hit even the smallest target. |
| 17The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, rallied 400,000 armed men, every one an experienced warrior. | 17The men of Israel (not counting Benjamin) had mustered four hundred thousand sword-wielding soldiers, every one an experienced warrior. |
| 18They set out, went to Bethel, and inquired of God. The Israelites asked, "Who is to go first to fight for us against the Benjaminites?" And the LORD answered, "Judah will be first." | 18The Israelites went up to Bethel and asked God, "Who should lead the charge against the Benjaminites?" The LORD said, "Judah should lead." |
| 19In the morning, the Israelites set out and camped near Gibeah. | 19The Israelites got up the next morning and moved against Gibeah. |
| 20The men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin and took their battle positions against Gibeah. | 20The men of Israel marched out to fight Benjamin; they arranged their battle lines against Gibeah. |
| 21The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and slaughtered 22,000 men of Israel on the field that day. | 21The Benjaminites attacked from Gibeah and struck down twenty-two thousand Israelites that day. |
| 22But the Israelite army rallied and again took their battle positions in the same place where they positioned themselves on the first day. | 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. |
| 23They went up, wept before the LORD until evening, and inquired of Him: "Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites?" And the LORD answered: "Fight against 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!" |
| 24On the second day the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites. | 24So the Israelites marched toward the Benjaminites the next day. |
| 25That same day the Benjaminites came out from Gibeah to meet them and slaughtered an additional 18,000 Israelites on the field; all were armed men. | 25The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers. |
| 26The whole Israelite army went to Bethel where they wept and sat before the LORD. They fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the LORD. | 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. |
| 27Then the Israelites inquired of the LORD. In those days, the ark of the covenant of God was there, | 27The Israelites asked the LORD (for the ark of God's covenant was there in those days; |
| 28and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving before it. The Israelites asked: "Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites or should we stop?" The LORD answered: "Fight, because I will hand them over to you tomorrow." | 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 up an ambush around Gibeah. | 29So Israel hid men in ambush outside Gibeah. |
| 30On the third day the Israelites fought against the Benjaminites and took their battle positions against Gibeah as before. | 30The Israelites attacked the Benjaminites the next day; they took their positions against Gibeah just as they had done before. |
| 31Then the Benjaminites came out against the people and were drawn away from the city. They began to attack the people as before, killing about 30 men of Israel on the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah through the open country. | 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. |
| 32The Benjaminites said, "We are defeating them as before." But the Israelites said, "Let's flee and draw them away from the city to the highways." | 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 all the men of Israel got up from their places and took their battle positions at Baal-tamar, while the Israelites in ambush charged out of their places west of 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. |
| 34Then 10,000 choice men from all Israel made a frontal assault against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce, but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was about to strike them. | 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 defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 men of Benjamin; all were armed men. | 35The LORD annihilated Benjamin before Israel; the Israelites struck down that day 25,100 sword-wielding Benjaminites. |
| 36Then the Benjaminites realized they had been defeated. The men of Israel had retreated before Benjamin, because they were confident in the ambush they had set against 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 men in ambush had rushed quickly against Gibeah; they advanced and put the whole city to the sword. | 37The men hiding in ambush made a mad dash to Gibeah. They attacked and put the sword to the entire city. |
| 38The men of Israel had a prearranged signal with the men in ambush: when they sent up a great 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 men of Israel would return to the battle. When Benjamin had begun to strike them down, killing about 30 men of Israel, they said, "They're defeated before us, just as they were in the first battle." | 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 when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, Benjamin looked behind them, and the whole city was going up in smoke. | 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. |
| 41Then the men of Israel returned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had struck them. | 41When the Israelites turned around, the Benjaminites panicked because they could see that disaster was on their doorstep. |
| 42They retreated before the men of Israel toward the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the cities slaughtered those between 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 Benjaminites, pursued them, and easily overtook them near Gibeah toward the east. | 43They surrounded the Benjaminites, chased them from Nohah, and annihilated them all the way to a spot east of Geba. |
| 44There were 18,000 men who died from Benjamin; all were warriors. | 44Eighteen thousand Benjaminites, all of them capable warriors, fell dead. |
| 45Then Benjamin turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and Israel killed 5,000 men on the highways. They overtook them at Gidom and struck 2,000 more dead. | 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. |
| 46All the Benjaminites who died that day were 25,000 armed men; all were warriors. | 46That day twenty-five thousand sword-wielding Benjaminites fell in battle, all of them capable warriors. |
| 47But 600 men escaped into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and stayed there four months. | 47Six hundred survivors turned and ran away to the wilderness, to the cliff of Rimmon. They stayed there four months. |
| 48The men of Israel turned back against the other Benjaminites and killed them with their swords--the entire city, the animals, and everything that remained. They also burned down all the cities that remained. | 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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