The War against the Benjamites

201 Then all the children of Israel took up arms, and the people came together like one man, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and the land of Gilead, before the Lord at Mizpah. 2 And the chiefs of the people, out of all the tribes of Israel, took their places in the meeting of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen armed with swords. 3 (Now the children of Benjamin had word that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the children of Israel said, Make clear how this evil thing took place. 4 Then the Levite, the husband of the dead woman, said in answer, I came to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin, I and my servant-wife, for the purpose of stopping there for the night. 5 And the townsmen of Gibeah came together against me, going round the house on all sides by night; it was their purpose to put me to death, and my servant-wife was violently used by them and is dead. 6 So I took her, cutting her into parts which I sent through all the country of the heritage of Israel: for they have done an act of shame in Israel. 7 Here you all are, you children of Israel; give now your suggestions about what is to be done. 8 Then all the people got up as one man and said, Not one of us will go to his tent or go back to his house: 9 But this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by the decision of the Lord; 10 And we will take ten men out of every hundred, through all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, a thousand out of every ten thousand, to get food for the people, so that they may give to Gibeah of Benjamin the right punishment for the act of shame they have done in Israel. 11 So all the men of Israel were banded together against the town, united like one man.

12 And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin saying, What is this evil which has been done among you? 13 Now give up those good-for-nothing persons in Gibeah so that we may put them to death, clearing away the evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not give ear to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel. 14 And the children of Benjamin came together from all their towns to Gibeah, to go to war with the children of Israel. 15 And the children of Benjamin who came that day from the towns were twenty-six thousand men armed with swords, in addition to the people of Gibeah, numbering seven hundred of the best fighting-men, 16 Who were left-handed, able to send a stone at a hair without error. 17 And the men of Israel, other than Benjamin, were four hundred thousand in number, all armed with swords; they were all men of war.

18 And they got up and went up to Beth-el to get directions from God, and the children of Israel said, Who is to be the first to go up to the fight against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah is to go up first. 19 So the children of Israel got up in the morning and put themselves in position against Gibeah. 20 And the men of Israel went out to war against Benjamin (and the men of Israel put their forces in fighting order against them at Gibeah). 21 Then the children of Benjamin came out from Gibeah, cutting down twenty-two thousand of the Israelites that day. 22 But the people, the men of Israel, taking heart again, put their forces in order and took up the same position as on the first day. 23 Now the children of Israel went up, weeping before the Lord till evening, requesting the Lord and saying, Am I to go forward again to the fight against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the Lord said, Go up against him. 24 So the children of Israel went forward against the children of Benjamin the second day. 25 And the second day Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah, cutting down eighteen thousand men of the children of Israel, all swordsmen.

26 Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up to Beth-el, weeping and waiting there before the Lord, going without food all day till evening, and offering burned offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord. 27 And the children of Israel made request to the Lord, (for the ark of the agreement of the Lord was there in those days, 28 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, was in his place before it,) and said, Am I still to go on with the fight against the children of Benjamin my brother, or am I to give it up? And the Lord said, Go on; for tomorrow I will give him into your hands. 29 So Israel put men secretly all round Gibeah to make a surprise attack on it. 30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in fighting order against Gibeah as before. 31 And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, moving away from the town; and as before, at their first attack, they put to death about thirty men of Israel on the highways, of which one goes up to Beth-el and the other to Gibeah, and in the open country. 32 And the children of Benjamin said, They are giving way before us as at first. But the children of Israel said, Let us go in flight and get them away from the town, into the highways. 33 So all the men of Israel got up and put themselves in fighting order at Baal-tamar: and those who had been waiting secretly to make a surprise attack came rushing out of their place on the west of Geba. 34 And they came in front of Gibeah, ten thousand of the best men in all Israel, and the fighting became more violent; but the children of Benjamin were not conscious that evil was coming on them. 35 Then the Lord sent sudden fear on Benjamin before Israel; and that day the children of Israel put to death twenty-five thousand, one hundred men of Benjamin, all of them swordsmen. 36 So the children of Benjamin saw that they were overcome: and the men of Israel had given way before Benjamin, putting their faith in the watchers who were to make the surprise attack on Gibeah. 37 And the watchers, rushing on Gibeah and overrunning it, put all the town to the sword without mercy. 38 Now the sign fixed between the men of Israel and those making the surprise attack was that when they made a pillar of smoke go up from the town, 39 The men of Israel were to make a turn about in the fight. And Benjamin had overcome and put to death about thirty of the men of Israel, and were saying, Certainly they are falling back before us as in the first fight. 40 Then the sign went up out of the town in the pillar of smoke, and the Benjamites, turning back, saw all the town going up in smoke to heaven. 41 And the men of Israel had made a turn about, and the men of Benjamin were overcome with fear, for they saw that evil had overtaken them. 42 So turning their backs on the men of Israel, they went in the direction of the waste land; but the fight overtook them; and those who came out of the town were heading them off and putting them to the sword. 43 And crushing Benjamin down, they went after them, driving them from Nohah as far as the east side of Gibeah. 44 Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin came to their death, all strong men of war. 45 And turning, they went in flight to the rock of Rimmon in the waste land: and on the highways five thousand of them were cut off by the men of Israel, who, pushing on hard after them to Geba, put to death two thousand more. 46 So twenty-five thousand of the swordsmen of Benjamin came to their end that day, all strong men of war. 47 But six hundred men, turning back, went in flight to the rock of Rimmon in the waste land, and were living on the rock of Rimmon for four months. 48 And the men of Israel, turning again against the children of Benjamin, put to the sword without mercy all the towns and the cattle and everything there was, burning every town which came into their hands.

The Nations Left to Test Israel

31 Now these are the nations which the Lord kept in the land for the purpose of testing Israel by them, all those who had had no experience of all the wars of Canaan; 2 Only because of the generations of the children of Israel, for the purpose of teaching them war—only those who up till then had no experience of it; 3 The five chiefs of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites and the Zidonians and the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from the mountain Baal-hermon as far as Hamath: 4 For the purpose of testing Israel by them, to see if they would give ear to the orders of the Lord, which he had given to their fathers by the hand of Moses. 5 Now the children of Israel were living among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: 6 And they took as wives the daughters of these nations and gave their daughters to their sons, and became servants to their gods.

Othniel Delivers Israel from Chushan-rishathaim

7 And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and put out of their minds the Lord their God, and became servants to the Baals and the Astartes.

8 So the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel were his servants for eight years. 9 And when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. 10 And the spirit of the Lord came on him and he became judge of Israel, and went out to war, and the Lord gave up Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hands and he overcame him. 11 Then for forty years the land had peace, till the death of Othniel, the son of Kenaz.

Ehud Delivers Israel from Moab

12 Then the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord made Eglon, king of Moab, strong against Israel, because they had done evil in the Lord's eyes. 13 And Eglon got together the people of Ammon and Amalek, and they went and overcame Israel and took the town of palm-trees. 14 And the children of Israel were servants to Eglon, king of Moab, for eighteen years. 15 Then when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man; and the children of Israel sent an offering by him to Eglon, king of Moab. 16 So Ehud made himself a two-edged sword, a cubit long, which he put on at his right side under his robe. 17 And he took the offering to Eglon, king of Moab, who was a very fat man. 18 And after giving the offering, he sent away the people who had come with the offering. 19 But he himself, turning back from the stone images at Gilgal, said, I have something to say to you in secret, O king. And he said, Let there be quiet. Then all those who were waiting before him went out. 20 Then Ehud came in to him while he was seated by himself in his summer-house. And Ehud said, I have a word from God for you. And he got up from his seat. 21 And Ehud put out his left hand, and took the sword from his right side, and sent it into his stomach; 22 And the hand-part went in after the blade, and the fat was joined up over the blade; for he did not take the sword out of his stomach. And he went out into the ... 23 Then Ehud went out into the covered way, shutting the doors of the summer-house on him and locking them. 24 Now when he had gone, the king's servants came, and saw that the doors of the summer-house were locked; and they said, It may be that he is in his summer-house for a private purpose. 25 And they went on waiting till they were shamed, but the doors were still shut; so they took the key, and, opening them, saw their lord stretched out dead on the floor. 26 But Ehud had got away while they were waiting and had gone past the stone images and got away to Seirah. 27 And when he came there, he had a horn sounded in the hill-country of Ephraim, and all the children of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he at their head. 28 And he said to them, Come after me; for the Lord has given the Moabites, your haters, into your hands. So they went down after him and took the crossing-places of Jordan against Moab, and let no one go across. 29 At that time they put about ten thousand men of Moab to the sword, every strong man and every man of war; not a man got away. 30 So Moab was broken that day under the hand of Israel. And for eighty years the land had peace.

Shamgar Delivers Israel from the Philistines

31 And after him came Shamgar, the son of Anath, who put to death six hundred Philistines with an ox-stick; and he was another saviour of Israel.