Judges 20:30-21:3

EasyEnglish Bible

³⁰ On the third day, their other soldiers stood in the same places as before. They were ready to fight. ³¹ The soldiers of Benjamin came out of Gibeah to attack them. But the Israelites moved away from the city so that Benjamin's soldiers chased after them. The men of Benjamin began to kill the Israelites, as they had done before. They killed about 30 Israelites in the fields and on the roads that went to Bethel and Gibeah.

³² The soldiers of Benjamin were saying, ‘We are winning against them, as we have done before!’ But the Israelites were saying, ‘We will continue to run away so that their soldiers chase us. We will lead them away from the city onto the roads.’

³³ When the men of Israel reached Baal Tamar, they stopped there. They stood in their places, ready to fight. At the same time, the Israelite soldiers who had hidden themselves on the west side of Gibeah ran out of their places. ³⁴ 10,000 Israelite soldiers who knew how to fight well attacked Gibeah. There was a big battle. The men of Benjamin did not realize that they were in a lot of trouble.

³⁵ The Lord destroyed Benjamin's army as the Israelites attacked them. Israel's soldiers killed more than 25,000 soldiers of Benjamin's army that day. ³⁶ Finally, the men of Benjamin realized that they had lost the battle.

This is how it happened: Israel's soldiers let Benjamin's army chase after them. They trusted the soldiers who were hiding around Gibeah to attack the city. ^37-38 The Israelites had agreed a sign with their men who were hiding. When those men ran into Gibeah and they destroyed everything there, they would make the sign. They would light a big fire so that the smoke went up into the sky. ³⁹ Then the other Israelite soldiers would turn round to attack the soldiers who were chasing them.

Benjamin's soldiers had begun to kill the Israelites. When they had killed about 30 of them, they said, ‘Look! We are winning again, as we always do!’ ⁴⁰ Then they turned and they saw the tall pillar of smoke. It was rising from their city up to the sky. ⁴¹ The Israelite soldiers saw the sign and they attacked the soldiers of Benjamin. The men of Benjamin suddenly became very afraid. They realized that they were in a lot of trouble. ⁴² So they ran away on the road towards the desert while the Israelites chased after them. But they could not escape from the Israelites. Israelite men came out from their towns and killed them in the battle. ⁴³ They attacked Benjamin's soldiers from all sides and they continued to chase them. They were killing them all the way to a place on the east of Gibeah.

⁴⁴ They killed 18,000 strong soldiers of Benjamin's tribe. ⁴⁵ The rest of Benjamin's soldiers ran towards the desert, as far as the rock of Rimmon. The Israelites killed 5,000 of them as they ran along the roads. They chased them to Gidom, and they killed 2,000 more of Benjamin's soldiers there.

⁴⁶ On that day, 25,000 soldiers of Benjamin's tribe died. They were all brave men who knew how to fight well. ⁴⁷ But 600 soldiers turned and ran away to the rock of Rimmon. They stayed there for four months.

⁴⁸ The Israelites returned to the land that belonged to Benjamin's tribe. They killed the people and animals in all the towns there. As they came to each town, they destroyed it with fire.

Wives for the men of Benjamin's tribe

21 The Israelites had made a promise to the Lord at Mizpah. They agreed together, ‘None of us will allow our daughters to marry a man of Benjamin's tribe.’

² After the war against Benjamin's army, the people went to Bethel to meet with God. They sat there until evening. They could not stop weeping loudly. ³ They said, ‘Lord, Israel's God, why has this terrible thing happened in Israel? We have lost one whole tribe of Israel.’