Lexicon :: Strong's H1144 - binyāmîn

The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered, “I went to Gibeah in Benjamin with my concubine to spend the night.

“we will take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred out of every thousand, and one thousand out of every ten thousand to get provisions for the troops when they go to Gibeah in Benjamin to punish them for all the outrage they committed in Israel.”

Then the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this evil act that has happened among you?

“Hand over the wicked men in Gibeah so we can put them to death and purge evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not listen to their fellow Israelites.

Instead, the Benjaminites gathered together from their cities to Gibeah to go out and fight against the Israelites.

On that day the Benjaminites mobilized twenty-six thousand armed men from their cities, besides seven hundred fit young men rallied by the inhabitants of Gibeah.

The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, mobilized four hundred thousand armed men, every one an experienced warrior.

They set out, went to Bethel, and inquired of God. The Israelites asked, “Who is to go first to fight for us against the Benjaminites? ”

And the LORD answered, “Judah will be first.”

The men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin and took their battle positions against Gibeah.

The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and slaughtered twenty-two thousand men of Israel on the field that day.

They went up, wept before the LORD until evening, and inquired of him, “Should we again attack our brothers the Benjaminites? ”

And the LORD answered, “Fight against them.”

On the second day the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites.

That same day the Benjaminites came out from Gibeah to meet them and slaughtered an additional eighteen thousand Israelites on the field; all were armed.

and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving before it. The Israelites asked, “Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites or should we stop? ”

The LORD answered, “Fight, because I will hand them over to you tomorrow.”

On the third day the Israelites fought against the Benjaminites and took their battle positions against Gibeah as before.

Then the Benjaminites came out against the troops and were drawn away from the city. They began to attack the troops as before, killing about thirty men of Israel on the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah through the open country.

The Benjaminites said, “We are defeating them as before.”

But the Israelites said, “Let’s flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.”

The LORD defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 men of Benjamin; all were armed.

Then the Benjaminites realized they had been defeated.

The men of Israel had retreated before Benjamin, because they were confident in the ambush they had set against Gibeah.

the men of Israel would return to the battle. When Benjamin had begun to strike them down, killing about thirty men of Israel, they said, “They’re defeated before us, just as they were in the first battle.”

But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, Benjamin looked behind them, and the whole city was going up in smoke.[fn]

Then the men of Israel returned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had struck them.

They surrounded the Benjaminites, pursued them, and easily overtook them near Gibeah toward the east.

There were eighteen thousand men who died from Benjamin; all were warriors.

All the Benjaminites who died that day were twenty-five thousand armed men; all were warriors.

The men of Israel turned back against the other Benjaminites and killed them with their swords ​— ​the entire city, the animals, and everything that remained. They also burned all the cities that remained.

But the Israelites had compassion on their brothers, the Benjaminites, and said, “Today a tribe has been cut off from Israel.

The whole congregation sent a message of peace to the Benjaminites who were at Rimmon Rock.

Benjamin returned at that time, and Israel gave them the women they had kept alive from Jabesh-gilead. But there were not enough for them.

The people had compassion on Benjamin, because the LORD had made this gap in the tribes of Israel.

The elders of the congregation said, “What should we do about wives for those who are left, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed? ”

They said, “There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out.

“But we can’t give them our daughters as wives.” For the Israelites had sworn, “Anyone who gives a wife to a Benjaminite is cursed.”

Then they commanded the Benjaminites, “Go and hide in the vineyards.

“Watch, and when you see the young women of Shiloh come out to perform the dances, each of you leave the vineyards and catch a wife for yourself from the young women of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

The Benjaminites did this and took the number of women they needed from the dancers they caught. They went back to their own inheritance, rebuilt their cities, and lived in them.