36. So the Benjamites saw that they were defeated. The men of Israel gave ground to the Benjamites, because they trusted in the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah.
37. And the men in ambush quickly rushed upon Gibeah, and the liers-in-wait moved out and smote all the city with the sword.
38. Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that when they made a great cloud of smoke arise from the city,
39. The men of Israel should all turn back in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to smite and kill some of the men of Israel, about thirty persons. They said, Surely they are falling before us as in the first battle.
40. But when the [signal] cloud began to rise out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and behold, the whole of the city went up in smoke to the heavens.
41. When the men of Israel turned back again, the men of Benjamin were dismayed, for they saw that disaster had come upon them.
42. Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel and fled toward the wilderness, but the battle followed close behind and overtook them; and the inhabitants of the cities destroyed those [Benjamites] who came through them in their midst.