Judges 20:1-17

New American Standard Bible

Resolve to Punish the Guilty

20 Then all the sons of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, came out, and the congregation assembled as one person to the Lord at ^(A)Mizpah. ² And the ^[a]leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, took their stand in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot ^[b]soldiers ^(B)who drew the sword. ³ (Now the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the sons of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wickedness take place?” ⁴ So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “I came with my concubine to spend the night at Gibeah which belongs to Benjamin. ⁵ But the ^[c](C)citizens of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night, ^[d]threatening me. They intended to kill me; instead, they ^(D)raped my concubine so that she died. ⁶ And I ^(E)took hold of my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance; for ^(F)they have committed an outrageous sin and vile act in Israel. ⁷ Behold, all you sons of Israel, ^(G)give your ^[e]response and advice here.”

⁸ Then all the people rose up as one person, saying, “Not one of us will go to his tent, nor will any of us go home. ⁹ But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up against it by lot. ¹⁰ And we will take ten men out of a hundred throughout the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand to ^[f]supply provisions for the people, so that when they come to ^[g]Gibeah of Benjamin, they may ^[h]punish them for all the vile sin that they have committed in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, ^[i]united as one man.

¹² Then the tribes of Israel sent men through the entire ^[j]tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has taken place among you? ¹³ Now then, turn over the men, the ^[k](H)worthless men who are in Gibeah, so that we may put them to death and ^(I)remove this wickedness from Israel.” But the sons of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel. ¹⁴ Instead, the sons of Benjamin gathered from the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the sons of Israel. ¹⁵ From the cities on that day the ^(J)sons of Benjamin were ^[l]counted, twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah who were ^[m]counted, seven hundred choice men. ¹⁶ Out of all these people seven hundred ^(K)choice men were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

¹⁷ Then the men of Israel besides Benjamin were ^[n]counted, four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of war.