9. Now this is what we will do to the city of Gibeah. We will throw lots to let God show us who will lead the attack.
10. We will choose ten men from every 100 from all the tribes of Israel. And we will choose 100 men from every 1000. We will choose 1000 men from every 10,000. These men we have chosen will get supplies for the army. Then the army will go to the city of Gibeah in the area of Benjamin. The army will punish those people for the terrible thing they did among the Israelites.”
11. So all the men of Israel gathered together at the city of Gibeah, united together and in agreement as to what they were doing.
12. The tribes of Israel sent men to the tribe of Benjamin with this message: “What about this terrible thing that some of your men have done?
13. Send the bad men from the city of Gibeah to us so that we can put them to death. We must remove the evil from among the Israelites.” But the people from the tribe of Benjamin would not listen to the messengers from their relatives, the other Israelites.
14. The people from the tribe of Benjamin left their cities and went to the city of Gibeah. They went to Gibeah to fight against the other tribes of Israel.
15. The people from the tribe of Benjamin got 26,000 soldiers together who were trained for war. They also had 700 trained soldiers from the city of Gibeah.
16. There were also 700 trained soldiers who were trained to fight with their left hand. Each one of them could use a sling with great skill. They all could use a sling to throw a stone at a hair and not miss!
17. All the tribes of Israel, except Benjamin, gathered together 400,000 fighting men with swords. Each one was a trained soldier.
18. The Israelites went up to the city of Bethel. At Bethel they asked God, “Which tribe will be first to attack the tribe of Benjamin?” The Lord answered, “The tribe of Judah will go first.”
19. The next morning the Israelites got up. They made a camp near the city of Gibeah.
20. Then the army of Israel took their positions for battle against the army of Benjamin at the city of Gibeah.
21. Then the army of Benjamin came out of the city of Gibeah. The army of Benjamin killed 22,000 men in the army of Israel during the battle that day.
22-23. The Israelites went to the Lord and cried until evening. They asked the Lord, “Should we go to fight the people of Benjamin again? They are our relatives.” The Lord answered, “Go fight against them.” The men of Israel encouraged each other. So they again went out to fight, as they had done the first day.
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.