Judges 19:16-20:21
Behold, an old man came from his work out of the field at evening. Now the man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites.He lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said,“ Where are you going? Where did you come from?”He said to him,“ We are passing from Bethlehem Judah to the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem Judah. I am going to Yahweh’s house; and there is no one who has taken me into his house.Yet there is both straw and feed for our donkeys; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your servant, and for the young man who is with your servants. There is no lack of anything.”The old man said,“ Peace be to you! Just let me supply all your needs, but don’t sleep in the street.”So he brought him into his house, and gave the donkeys fodder. Then they washed their feet, and ate and drank.As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain wicked fellows, surrounded the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying,“ Bring out the man who came into your house, that we can have sex with him!”The man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them,“ No, my brothers, please don’t act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, don’t do this folly.Behold, here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them what seems good to you; but to this man don’t do any such folly.”But the men wouldn’t listen to him; so the man grabbed his concubine, and brought her out to them; and they had sex with her, and abused her all night until the morning. When the day began to dawn, they let her go.Then the woman came in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her lord was, until it was light.Her lord rose up in the morning and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and behold, the woman his concubine had fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold.He said to her,“ Get up, and let’s get going!” but no one answered. Then he took her up on the donkey; and the man rose up, and went to his place.When he had come into his house, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel.It was so, that all who saw it said,“ Such a deed has not been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day! Consider it, take counsel, and speak.”Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to Yahweh at Mizpah.The chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen who drew sword.( Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The children of Israel said,“ Tell us, how did this wickedness happen?”The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered,“ I came into Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night.The men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house by night. They intended to kill me and they raped my concubine, and she is dead.I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.Behold, you children of Israel, all of you, give here your advice and counsel.”All the people arose as one man, saying,“ None of us will go to his tent, neither will any of us turn to his house.But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot;and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand to get food for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that the men of Gibeah have done in Israel.”So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying,“ What wickedness is this that has happened among you?Now therefore deliver up the men, the wicked fellows who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and put away evil from Israel.” But Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel.The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.The children of Benjamin were counted on that day out of the cities twenty- six thousand men who drew the sword, in addition to the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were counted seven hundred chosen men.Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left- handed. Every one of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.The men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were counted four hundred thousand men who drew sword. All these were men of war.The children of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God. They asked,“ Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin?” Yahweh said,“ Judah first.”The children of Israel rose up in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah.The children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day destroyed twenty- two thousand of the Israelite men down to the ground.
