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          DASV: Judges 20    

1 Then all the Israelites rallied, from Dan to Beersheba along
with Gilead, the congregation assembled as a single unit
before the LORD at Mizpah.
2 The leaders of all the people from all the tribes of Israel,
presented themselves in the assembly of the God's people,
400,000 foot-soldiers who drew swords.
3 Now the Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone
up to Mizpah. The Israelites asked, "Tell us, how did
this atrocity ever happen?"
4 The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered,
answered, "My concubine and I came to Gibeah that belongs
to Benjamin to find lodging.
5 Then the men of Gibeah came after me, and surrounded the
house at night planning to kill me. They raped my
concubine and she is dead.
6 So I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent
her throughout the whole territory of Israel; because
they committed such an unconscionable and barbarous
act in Israel.
7 Now, all you Israelites give your advice and counsel here."
8 All the people rose as one, saying, "None of us will go
to his tent, nor will any of us return home.
9 But now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will attack
the town by lot.
10 We will take ten men out of a hundred from all the
tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thousand,
and a thousand from ten thousand, to bring provision
to the troops. Then when they come to Gibeah of
Benjamin they will repay them for this atrocity
that they have done in Israel."

11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the town,
united as one person.
12 The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe
of Benjamin, asking, "What terrible crime is this that
has happened among you?
13 Now hand over those hoodlums from Gibeah, so that we
may put them to death, and so purge evil from Israel."
But the people of Benjamin would not listen to the voice
of their fellow Israelites.
14 The children of Benjamin gathered together from their
towns to Gibeah, to fight against the Israelites.
15 The Benjaminites numbered on that day from the towns
26,000 soldiers who drew the sword, besides the
inhabitants of Gibeah, who joined adding 700 special
forces there.
16 Among all these troops there were 700 select left
handed men who could sling stones and hit a hair and
not miss.
17 400,000 soldiers of Israel who drew the sword mustered,
besides the Benjaminites. All these were warriors.

18 The Israelites went up to Bethel, and inquired of God.
They asked, "Who should go up first for us to fight
against the Benjaminites?" The LORD answered, "Judah
shall go up first."
19 So the Israelites got up in the morning, and camped
against Gibeah.
20 The men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin,
and the soldiers of Israel took up their fighting
positions against Gibeah.
21 The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah, and struck down
22,000 Israelites that day.

22 The Israelite troops took courage, and again took up
battle positions in the place where they set themselves
up as on the first day.
23 The Israelites went up and wept before the LORD until
evening. They asked the LORD, "Shall we again draw near
to attack the Benjaminites our relatives?" Then the
LORD answered, "Go up against them."
24 The Israelites drew near to fight against the Benjaminites
the second day.
25 Benjamin came out of Gibeah against them the second day,
and struck down from the Israelites another 18,000 men,
all of whom drew the sword.
26 Then all the Israelites, and all the people, went up,
and came to Bethel, and wept and sat there before the LORD.
They fasted that day until evening and they offered burnt
offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
27 The Israelites asked the LORD, for the ark of the
covenant of God was there in those days,
28 and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron,
stood before it in those days, saying, "Should we go out
to battle again against the Benjaminites our relatives,
or should we stop?" The LORD answered, "Go up for tomorrow;
I will hand them over to you."

29 Israel set an ambush against Gibeah.
30 The Israelites went up to attack the Benjaminites
on the third day. They took their battle positions
against Gibeah, as before.
31 The Benjaminites went out against the people,
and were drawn away from the town; and they began
to strike down the people as before. Thirty men
of Israel died in the field and on the roads,
one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah.
32 The Benjaminites assumed, "They are defeated before
us just as before." But the Israelites said, "Let's flee,
and draw them away from the town into the roadways."
33 So all the men of Israel rose up from their places,
and took their battle positions at Baal-tamar.
The Israelites laying in ambush broke out of their
place, even from their positions west of Gibeah.
34 Then 10,000 chosen men from all Israel attacked Gibeah,
and the battle was fierce; but the Benjaminites did not
realize how close they were to disaster.
35 The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel. The Israelites
destroyed 25,100 Benjaminites that day all of whom drew
the sword.
36 The Benjaminites saw that they were defeated; for the
men of Israel retreated before Benjamin, because they
were trusting in those who were hiding in ambush whom
they had set up against Gibeah.
37 Those in the ambush quickly rushed into Gibeah. They
moved in and struck all who were in the town with the
edge of the sword.
38 Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and
those in the ambush was that they would make a great
cloud of smoke rise from the town.
39 The men of Israel turned in the battle, and the men of
Benjamin began to smite and kill thirty of the men of
Israel; for they thought, "Surely they are defeated
before us, just as in the first battle."
40 But when the cloud began to rise out of the town in
a pillar of smoke, the Benjaminites looked behind them.
The whole town was going up in smoke to the sky.

41 The men of Israel turned around and the men of Benjamin
were terrified for they saw that disaster had overtaken them.
42 Therefore they turned and fled before the men of Israel
in the direction of the wilderness. But the battle
pressed hard after them as the Israelite troops came
out of the towns cutting them down as they were caught
in between.
43 They surrounded the Benjaminites, chased them down
relentlessly and overtook them east of Gibeah.
44 18,000 men of Benjamin fell; all were valiant warriors.

45 The rest turned and fled toward the desert to the
rock of Rimmon. The Israelites struck down 5,000
more on the roads, and pressing hard on their heels
to Gidom, where they killed another 2000 Benjaminites.
46 So on that day a total of 25,000 valiant warriors
from the tribe of Benjamin each of whom drew the
sword, died.
47 But six hundred men turned and fled toward the
desert to the rock of Rimmon, and stayed at the
rock of Rimmon for four months.
48 The men of Israel went back again to the Benjaminite
towns and struck them down with the edge of the sword--the
town, the animals, and everything they found there.
They also burned down all the towns they came to.

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