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.
32. The Benjaminites said, “We've beaten them just as we did before.”But the Israelites had planned to retreat and lead them away from the city on to the roads.
33. So when the main army of the Israelites pulled back and regrouped at Baaltamar, the men surrounding Gibeah suddenly rushed out of their hiding places in the rocky country round the city.
34. 10,000 men, specially chosen out of all Israel, attacked Gibeah, and the fighting was hard. The Benjaminites had not realized that they were about to be destroyed.
35. The Lord gave Israel victory over the army of Benjamin. The Israelites killed 25,100 of the enemy that day,
36. and the Benjaminites realized they were defeated.The main body of the Israelite army had retreated from the Benjaminites because they were relying on the men that they had put in hiding round Gibeah.
37. These men ran quickly towards Gibeah; they spread out in the city and killed everyone there.
38. The main Israelite army and the men in hiding had arranged a signal. When they saw a big cloud of smoke going up from the town,
39. the Israelites out on the battlefield were to turn round. By this time the Benjaminites had already killed the thirty Israelites. They told themselves, “Yes, we've beaten them just as we did before.”
40. Then the signal appeared; a cloud of smoke began to go up from the town. The Benjaminites looked behind them and were amazed to see the whole city going up in flames.
41. Then the Israelites turned round, and the Benjaminites were thrown into a panic because they realized that they were about to be destroyed.