CEB Common English Bible with Apocrypha - eBook [ePub]. Common English Bible
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against the Benjaminites for us?"
And the LORD said, "Let the tribe of Judah be first."
19So the next morning, the Israelites got up and camped near Gibeah. 20They marched out to fight against the Benjaminites, lining up in battle formation against them at Gibeah. 21But the Benjaminites marched out from Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelite men that day.
23i So the Israelites went back up and wept before the LORD until evening. They asked the LORD, "Should we move in again to fight our relatives the Benjaminites?"
And the LORD replied, "March out against them."
22The Israelite troops regrouped and lined up in battle formation again in the same place they had lined up the first day. 24The Israelites moved in against the Benjaminites the second day. 25But the Benjaminites marched out of Gibeah to meet them on that second day and cut down another eighteen thousand Israelite men, all of whom were armed with swords.
26Then all the Israelite troops went back up to Bethel and wept, just sitting there in the LORD's presence. They fasted that whole day until evening. Then they offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices to the LORD. 27Now in those days the chest containing God's covenant was there, 28and Phinehas, Eleazar's son and Aaron's grandson, was in charge of ministering before it. The Israelites asked the LORD, "Should we march out once again to fight our relatives the Benjaminites or should we give up?"
And the LORD replied, "March up, for I'll hand them to you tomorrow."
29So the Israelites set ambushes around Gibeah. 30Three days later, the Israelites marched out against the Benjaminites. They lined up for battle against Gibeah as before. 31When the Benjaminites came out to meet them, they were drawn away from the city. They began to strike down some of the troops just like the last time, about thirty Israelites along the main roads, one of which goes up to Bethel and one to Gibeah, as well as in the open fields. 32The Benjaminites thought, They're being wiped out before us like the first time. But the Israelites had planned, We'll retreat and draw them away from the city toward the main roads. 33The Israelites moved from their position and reformed their battle lines at Baal-tamar. Then the Israelites who had been set in ambush charged out from their positions west of Gibeah.j 34Ten thousand specially chosen men from all the Israelites came against Gibeah. The fighting was fierce, and the Benjaminites didn't realize that disaster was almost on them. 35The LORD wiped out the Benjaminites before Israel. The Israelites slaughtered twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjaminite men that day, all of them armed with swords. 36Then the Benjaminites saw that they had been defeated.
The Israelites had given ground to the Benjaminites because they relied on the ambush that they had set around Gibeah. 37Indeed, those in the ambush had dashed swiftly into Gibeah and killed all the people in the city with their swords. 38The plan between the main force of the Israelites and those in the ambush was that when they sent up a big cloud of smoke from the city, 39the Israelites would turn around in battle. The Benjaminites had begun to defeat some of the Israelites and had killed about thirty men, thinking, They are definitely going to be wiped out before us, as in the first battle! 40But then the column of smoke began to rise from the city. When the Benjaminites looked back, there was the entire city going up in smoke to the sky. 41The main force of the Israelites turned around, and the Benjaminites lost heart, because they recognized that disaster had fallen on them. 42They turned back before the Israelites in the direction of the desert, but the fighting caught up with them, and those from the towns were slaughtering them there.k 43They encircled the Benjaminites, chased them from Nohah,l and trampled them to the east of Gibeah. 44Eighteen thousand Benjaminites fell, all of whom were strong warriors. 45When they turned back and fled toward the desert to the rock of Rimmon, the Israelites picked off another five thousand men on the main roads. And when they caught up with them at Gidom, they struck down two thousand more.
46All in all, the total number of Benjaminites who fell that day was twenty-five thousand men, all of whom were armed with swords and were strong warriors. 47Six hundred men turned back and fled toward the desert to the rock of Rimmon. They stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months. 48But the Israelites turned their attention to the rest of the Benjaminites and massacred them entirely--the city, the people, even the animals, and everything else they found. They also burned down every city they came across.
Wives for the Benjaminites
Judges 21The Israelites had made a pledge at Mizpah, declaring, "None of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite."2But the people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before God, raising their voices and crying bitterly. 3"LORD, God of Israel," they said, "why has this happened among us that as of today one tribe will be missing from Israel?"4And the next day, the people got up early and built an altar there. They offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices.
5Then the Israelites asked, "Were there any out of all the tribes of Israel who didn't march up to the assembly before the LORD?" Indeed, they had made a solemn pledge that anyone who didn't march up before the LORD at Mizpah would be put to death. 6The Israelites had a change of heart concerning their relatives the Benjaminites. They said, "Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel. 7What can we do to provide wives for the ones who are left, since we ourselves have made a pledge before the LORD not to allow our daughters to marry them?"8So they asked, "Is there anyone from the tribes of Israel who didn't march up before the LORD at Mizpah?" There was! No one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the assembly at the camp. 9When the people's attendance was taken, not one of those who lived in Jabesh-gilead had been there.
10The community dispatched twelve thousand warriors there with these orders: "Go kill all the people in Jabesh-gilead, including women and children. 11Here's what you should do: Exterminate every man and every woman who has slept with a man."12Among the people of Jabesh-gilead, they found four hundred young women who had not known a man intimately or slept with one, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan. 13The whole community then sent word to the Benjaminites who were at the rock of Rimmon and offered them a truce.m 14So the Benjaminites returned at that time, and they gave them the women from Jabesh-gilead that they had allowed to live. Even so, there weren't enough for them.
15Since the people had a change of heart concerning the Benjaminites because the LORD had caused a rupture in the tribes of Israel, 16the community elders said, "What can we do to provide wives for the ones who are left, seeing that the Benjaminite women have been destroyed?17There must be a surviving line for those who remain from Benjamin," they continued, "so that a tribe won't be erased from Israel. 18But we can't allow our daughters to marry them, for we Israelites have made this pledge: 'Let anyone who provides a wife for Benjamin be cursed!'19However," they said, "the annual festival of the LORD is under way in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah."20So they instructed the Benjaminites, "Go and hide like an ambush in the vineyards21and watch. At the moment the women of Shiloh come out to participate in the dances, rush out from the vineyards. Each one of you, capture a wife for yourself from the women of Shiloh and go back to the land of Benjamin. 22When their fathers or brothers come to us to object, we'll tell them, 'Do us a favor for their sake. We didn't capture enough women for every man during the battle, and this way you are not guilty because you didn't give them anything willingly.'"23And that is what the Benjaminites did. They took wives for their whole group from the dancers whom they abducted. They returned to their territory, rebuilt the cities, and lived in them. 24Likewise, the Israelites set out from there at that time, heading home to their respective tribes and clans. They all left there for their own territories.
25In those days there was no king in Israel; each person did