1. So all the Israelites joined together. They came to stand before the Lord in the city of Mizpah. They came from as far away as the cities of Dan and Beersheba. Even the Israelites from the land of Gilead were there.
2. The leaders of all the tribes of Israel were there. They took their places in the meeting of the people of God. There were 400,000 soldiers with swords.
3. (The people of Benjamin heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said to the Levite, “Tell us how this evil thing happened.”
4. So the husband of the murdered woman answered: “My slave woman and I came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night.
5. During the night the men of Gibeah came after me. They surrounded the house and wanted to kill me. They raped my slave woman. And she died!
6. So I took her and cut her into parts. Then I sent one part to each area of Israel’s land. I did it because the people of Benjamin have done this wicked and terrible thing in Israel.
7. Now, all you men of Israel, speak up. Tell what you have decided we should do.”
8. Then all the people stood up at the same time. They said, “None of us will go home. Not one of us will go back to his house!
9. Now this is what we will do to Gibeah. We will throw lots so that God can show us what to do.
10. We will choose 10 men from each 100 men. They will be from all the tribes of Israel. And we will choose 100 men from each 1,000. We will choose 1,000 men from each 10,000. These men will find supplies for the army. Then the army will go to the city of Gibeah of Benjamin. They will repay those people for the terrible thing they have done in Israel.”
11. So all the men of Israel gathered against the city. They all agreed about what they were doing.
12. The tribes of Israel sent men to all the family groups of Benjamin with a message. They said, “What is this evil thing some of your men have done?
13. Give up the evil men in Gibeah so that we can put them to death. We must remove this evil from Israel.”But the Benjaminites would not listen to their relatives, the people of Israel.
14. The Benjaminites left their own cities and met at Gibeah. They went to fight against the Israelites.