39. the Israelites would turn around in battle. The Benjaminites had begun to defeat some of the Israelites and had killed about thirty men, thinking, They are definitely going to be wiped out before us, as in the first battle!
40. But then the column of smoke began to rise from the city. When the Benjaminites looked back, there was the entire city going up in smoke to the sky.
41. The main force of the Israelites turned around, and the Benjaminites lost heart, because they recognized that disaster had fallen on them.
42. They turned back before the Israelites in the direction of the desert, but the fighting caught up with them, and those from the towns were slaughtering them there.
43. They encircled the Benjaminites, chased them from Nohah, and trampled them to the east of Gibeah.
44. Eighteen thousand Benjaminites fell, all of whom were strong warriors.
45. When they turned back and fled toward the desert to the rock of Rimmon, the Israelites picked off another five thousand men on the main roads. And when they caught up with them at Gidom, they struck down two thousand more.
46. All in all, the total number of Benjaminites who fell that day was twenty-five thousand men, all of whom were armed with swords and were strong warriors.
47. Six hundred men turned back and fled toward the desert to the rock of Rimmon. They stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months.
48. But the Israelites turned their attention to the rest of the Benjaminites and massacred them entirely—the city, the people, even the animals, and everything else they found. They also burned down every city they came across.