¹⁶ That evening an old man came home from his work in the fields. He was from the hill country of Ephraim, but he was living in Gibeah, where the people were from the tribe of Benjamin. ¹⁷ When he saw the travelers sitting in the town square, he asked them where they were from and where they were going.

¹⁸ “We have been in Bethlehem in Judah,” the man replied. “We are on our way to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim, which is my home. I traveled to Bethlehem, and now I’m returning home.^[a] But no one has taken us in for the night, ¹⁹ even though we have everything we need. We have straw and feed for our donkeys and plenty of bread and wine for ourselves.”

²⁰ “You are welcome to stay with me,” the old man said. “I will give you anything you might need. But whatever you do, don’t spend the night in the square.” ²¹ So he took them home with him and fed the donkeys. After they washed their feet, they ate and drank together.

²² While they were enjoying themselves, a crowd of troublemakers from the town surrounded the house. They began beating at the door and shouting to the old man, “Bring out the man who is staying with you so we can have sex with him.”

²³ The old man stepped outside to talk to them. “No, my brothers, don’t do such an evil thing. For this man is a guest in my house, and such a thing would be shameful. ²⁴ Here, take my virgin daughter and this man’s concubine. I will bring them out to you, and you can abuse them and do whatever you like. But don’t do such a shameful thing to this man.”

²⁵ But they wouldn’t listen to him. So the Levite took hold of his concubine and pushed her out the door. The men of the town abused her all night, taking turns raping her until morning. Finally, at dawn they let her go. ²⁶ At daybreak the woman returned to the house where her husband was staying. She collapsed at the door of the house and lay there until it was light.

²⁷ When her husband opened the door to leave, there lay his concubine with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸ He said, “Get up! Let’s go!” But there was no answer.^[b] So he put her body on his donkey and took her home.

²⁹ When he got home, he took a knife and cut his concubine’s body into twelve pieces. Then he sent one piece to each tribe throughout all the territory of Israel.

³⁰ Everyone who saw it said, “Such a horrible crime has not been committed in all the time since Israel left Egypt. Think about it! What are we going to do? Who’s going to speak up?”

Israel’s War with Benjamin

20 Then all the Israelites were united as one man, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, including those from across the Jordan in the land of Gilead. The entire community assembled in the presence of the Lord at Mizpah. ² The leaders of all the people and all the tribes of Israel—400,000 warriors armed with swords—took their positions in the assembly of the people of God. ³ (Word soon reached the land of Benjamin that the other tribes had gone up to Mizpah.) The Israelites then asked how this terrible crime had happened.

⁴ The Levite, the husband of the woman who had been murdered, said, “My concubine and I came to spend the night in Gibeah, a town that belongs to the people of Benjamin. ⁵ That night some of the leading citizens of Gibeah surrounded the house, planning to kill me, and they raped my concubine until she was dead. ⁶ So I cut her body into twelve pieces and sent the pieces throughout the territory assigned to Israel, for these men have committed a terrible and shameful crime. ⁷ Now then, all of you—the entire community of Israel—must decide here and now what should be done about this!”

⁸ And all the people rose to their feet in unison and declared, “None of us will return home! No, not even one of us! ⁹ Instead, this is what we will do to Gibeah; we will draw lots to decide who will attack it. ¹⁰ One-tenth of the men^[c] from each tribe will be chosen to supply the warriors with food, and the rest of us will take revenge on Gibeah^[d] of Benjamin for this shameful thing they have done in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the Israelites were completely united, and they gathered together to attack the town.

¹² The Israelites sent messengers to the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What a terrible thing has been done among you! ¹³ Give up those evil men, those troublemakers from Gibeah, so we can execute them and purge Israel of this evil.”

But the people of Benjamin would not listen. ¹⁴ Instead, they came from their towns and gathered at Gibeah to fight the Israelites. ¹⁵ In all, 26,000 of their warriors armed with swords arrived in Gibeah to join the 700 elite troops who lived there. ¹⁶ Among Benjamin’s elite troops, 700 were left-handed, and each of them could sling a rock and hit a target within a hairsbreadth without missing. ¹⁷ Israel had 400,000 experienced soldiers armed with swords, not counting Benjamin’s warriors.

¹⁸ Before the battle the Israelites went to Bethel and asked God, “Which tribe should go first to attack the people of Benjamin?”

The Lord answered, “Judah is to go first.”

¹⁹ So the Israelites left early the next morning and camped near Gibeah. ²⁰ Then they advanced toward Gibeah to attack the men of Benjamin. ²¹ But Benjamin’s warriors, who were defending the town, came out and killed 22,000 Israelites on the battlefield that day.

⁶ Though you are such wicked rebels, my people, come and return to the Lord.