24. Then the army of Israel came near the army of Benjamin. This was the second day of the war.
25. The army of Benjamin came out of the city of Gibeah to attack the army of Israel on the second day. This time, the army of Benjamin killed another 18,000 men from the army of Israel. All the men in the army of Israel were trained soldiers.
26. Then all the Israelites went up to the city of Bethel. There they sat down and cried to the Lord. They did not eat anything all day, until evening. They also offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord.
27. The men of Israel asked the Lord a question. (In those days God’s Box of the Agreement was there at Bethel.
28. Phinehas was the priest who served God there. Phinehas was the son of Eleazar. Eleazar was the son of Aaron.) The Israelites asked, “The people of Benjamin are our relatives. Should we again go to fight against them? Or should we stop fighting?” The Lord answered, “Go. Tomorrow I will help you defeat them.”
29. Then the army of Israel hid some men all around the city of Gibeah.
30. The army of Israel went to fight against the city of Gibeah on the third day. They got ready for battle as they had done before.
31. The army of Benjamin came out of the city of Gibeah to fight the army of Israel. The army of Israel backed up and let the army of Benjamin chase them. In this way the army of Benjamin was tricked into leaving the city far behind them. The army of Benjamin began to kill some of the men in the army of Israel, as they had done before. They killed about 30 men from Israel. They killed some of them in the fields, and they killed some of them on the roads. One road led to the city of Bethel. The other road led to the city of Gibeah.
32. The men of Benjamin said, “We are winning as before!” The men of Israel were running away, but it was a trick. They wanted to lead the men of Benjamin away from their city and onto the roads.
33. So all the men ran away. They stopped at a place named Baal Tamar. Some of the men of Israel were hiding west of Gibeah. They ran from their hiding places.
34. 10,000 of Israel’s best-trained soldiers attacked the city of Gibeah. The fighting was very heavy. But the army of Benjamin did not know that a terrible thing was about to happen to them.
35. The Lord used the army of Israel and defeated the army of Benjamin. On that day the army of Israel killed 25,100 soldiers from Benjamin. All of them had been trained for war.