24. They marched against the army of Benjamin a second time.
25. And for the second time the Benjaminites came out of Gibeah, and this time they killed 18,000 trained Israelite soldiers.
26. Then all the people of Israel went up to Bethel and mourned. They sat there in the Lord's presence and did not eat until evening. They offered fellowship sacrifices and burnt some sacrifices whole — all in the presence of the Lord.
27-28. God's Covenant Box was there at Bethel in those days, and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron, was in charge of it. The people asked the Lord, “Should we go out to fight our brothers the Benjaminites again, or should we give up?”The Lord answered, “Fight. Tomorrow I will give you victory over them.”
29. So the Israelites put some soldiers in hiding round Gibeah.
30. Then for the third successive day they marched against the army of Benjamin and placed their soldiers in battle position facing Gibeah, as they had done before.
31. The Benjaminites came out to fight and were led away from the city. As before, they began killing some Israelites in the open country on the road to Bethel and on the road to Gibeah. They killed about thirty Israelites.