25. The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah to attack the Israelites. This time, the Benjaminites killed 18,000 Israelites, all of whom carried swords.
26. Then the Israelites went up to Bethel. There they sat down and cried to the Lord and fasted all day until evening. They also brought burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord.
27. The Israelites asked the Lord a question. (In those days the Ark of the Agreement with God was there at Bethel.
28. A priest named Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, served before the Ark of the Agreement.) They asked, “Shall we go to fight our relatives, the Benjaminites, again, or shall we stop fighting?”The Lord answered, “Go, because tomorrow I will hand them over to you.”
29. Then the Israelites set up ambushes all around Gibeah.
30. They went to fight against the Benjaminites at Gibeah on the third day, getting into position for battle as they had done before.
31. When the Benjaminites came out to fight them, the Israelites backed up and led the Benjaminites away from the city. The Benjaminites began to kill some of the Israelites as they had done before. About thirty Israelites were killed—some in the fields and some on the roads leading to Bethel and to Gibeah.
32. The Benjaminites said, “We are winning as before!”But the Israelites said, “Let’s run. Let’s trick them into going farther away from their city and onto the roads.”
33. All the Israelites moved from their places and got into battle positions at a place named Baal Tamar. Then the Israelites ran out from their hiding places west of Gibeah.
34. Ten thousand of the best trained soldiers from all of Israel attacked Gibeah. The battle was very hard. The Benjaminites did not know disaster was about to come to them.
35. The Lord used the Israelites to defeat the Benjaminites. On that day the Israelites killed 25,100 Benjaminites, all armed with swords.