1. Then all of the people of Israel came out. They came from the whole land between Dan and Beersheba. They also came from the land of Gilead. All of them gathered together in the sight of the Lord at Mizpah.
2. The leaders of all of the tribes of Israel came. They took their places among the people of God who were gathered together. There were 400,000 fighting men who were carrying swords.
3. The tribe of Benjamin heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah. The people of Israel said, "Tell us how that awful thing happened."
4. So the Levite spoke. He was the husband of the woman who had been murdered. He said, "I and my concubine went to Gibeah in Benjamin. We spent the night there.
5. During the night the men of Gibeah came after me. They surrounded the house. They were planning to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died.
6. "I took my concubine and cut her into pieces. I sent one piece to each part of Israel's territory. I did it because they had done a very terrible thing in Israel.
7. All of you men of Israel, speak up now. Give your decision."
8. All of the men got up together. They said, "None of us will go home. Not one of us will return to his house.
9. Here is what we'll do to Gibeah. We'll use lots to tell us how to attack the city.
10. We'll take ten men out of every 100 from all of the tribes of Israel. We'll take 100 from every 1,000. We'll take 1,000 from every 10,000. The men we take will get supplies for the army. Then the army will go to Gibeah in Benjamin. They'll give Gibeah exactly what they should get because of the evil thing they did in Israel."
11. So all of the men of Israel came together to fight against the city.