¹² And when the children of Israel heard of it, ^(A)the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go to war against them.

¹⁷ They ^(A)zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. ¹⁸ But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.

² For I bear them witness ^(A)that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

² And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, ^(A)those of the circumcision contended with him, ³ saying, ^(B)“You went in to uncircumcised men ^(C)and ate with them!”

Israel’s War with the Benjamites

20 So ^(A)all the children of Israel came out, from ^(B)Dan to ^(C)Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the Lord ^(D)at Mizpah. ² And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers ^(E)who drew the sword. ³ (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.)

Then the children of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wicked deed happen?”

⁴ So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “My concubine and ^(F)I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night. ^5 (G)And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, ^(H)but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died. ⁶ So ^(I)I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they ^(J)committed lewdness and outrage in Israel. ⁷ Look! All of you are children of Israel; ^(K)give your advice and counsel here and now!”

⁸ So all the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house; ⁹ but now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up ^(L)against it by lot. ¹⁰ We will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to make provisions for the people, that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin, they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man.

The Remainder of the Land Divided

18 Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together ^(A)at Shiloh, and ^(B)set up the tabernacle of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them.

¹⁵ you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock—with the edge of the sword.