Judg 20:18-48 | ESV | STEP | The people of Israel arose and went up to Bethel and inquired of God , Who shall go up first for us to fight against the people of Benjamin ? And the Lord said , Judah shall go up first .

y[See ver. 42 above]

Judges 20:18-48

18 The people of Israel arose and went up to ^aBethel and inquired of God, ^b“Who shall go up first for us to fight against the people of Benjamin?” And the Lord said, ^c“Judah shall go up first.”

19 Then the people of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. 20 And the men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin, and the men of Israel drew up the battle line against them at Gibeah. 21 ^dThe people of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and destroyed on that day 22,000 men of the Israelites. 22 But the people, the men of Israel, took courage, and again formed the battle line in the same place where they had formed it on the first day. 23 ^eAnd the people of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until the evening. And they inquired of the Lord, “Shall we again draw near to fight against our brothers, the people of Benjamin?” And the Lord said, “Go up against them.”

24 So the people of Israel came near against the people of Benjamin the second day. 25 And Benjamin ^fwent against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed 18,000 men of the people of Israel. All these were men who ^gdrew the sword. 26 Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to ^hBethel and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 27 And the people of Israel inquired of the Lord ⁱ(for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28 and ^jPhinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, ^kministered before it in those days), saying, “Shall we go out once more to battle against our brothers, the people of Benjamin, or shall we cease?” And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand.”

29 ^lSo Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah. 30 And the people of Israel went up against the people of Benjamin on the third day and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. 31 And the people of Benjamin went out against the people and were drawn away from the city. And as at other times they began to strike and kill some of the people in the highways, ^mone of which goes up to ⁿBethel and the other to Gibeah, and in the open country, about thirty men of Israel. 32 And the people of Benjamin said, ^o“They are routed before us, as at the first.” But the people of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” 33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place and set themselves in array at Baal-tamar, and the men of Israel who were in ambush rushed out of their place from Maareh-geba. ^{▼▼Some Septuagint manuscripts place west of Geba} 34 And there came against Gibeah 10,000 chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was hard, ^qbut the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was close upon them. 35 And the Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and the people of Israel destroyed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day. All these were men who ^rdrew the sword. 36 So the people of Benjamin saw that they were defeated.

The men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin, because they trusted the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah. 37 ^sThen the men in ambush hurried and rushed against Gibeah; the men in ambush moved out and struck all the city with the edge of the sword. 38 Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in the main ambush was that when they made a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city 39 the men of Israel should turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about thirty men of Israel. They said, ^t“Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.” 40 But when the signal began to rise out of the city in a column of smoke, the Benjaminites looked behind them, and behold, ^uthe whole of the city went up in smoke to heaven. 41 Then the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed, ^vfor they saw that disaster was close upon them. 42 Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel in ^wthe direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them. And those who came out of the cities were destroying them in their midst. 43 Surrounding the Benjaminites, they pursued them and trod them down from Nohah ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew [at their] resting place} as far as opposite Gibeah on the east. 44 Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell, all of them men of valor. 45 And they turned ^yand fled toward the wilderness to the rock of ^zRimmon. Five thousand men of them were cut down in the highways. And they were pursued hard to Gidom, and 2,000 men of them were struck down. 46 So all who fell that day of Benjamin were 25,000 men who drew the sword, all of them men of valor. 47 But 600 men turned and ^aafled toward the wilderness to the rock of ^abRimmon and remained at the rock of Rimmon four months. 48 And the men of Israel turned back against the people of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, the city, men and beasts and all that they found. And all the towns that they found they set on fire.