4. The Levite, the husband of the woman who had been murdered, said, “My concubine and I came to spend the night in Gibeah, a town that belongs to the people of Benjamin.
5. That night some of the leading citizens of Gibeah surrounded the house, planning to kill me, and they raped my concubine until she was dead.
6. So I cut her body into twelve pieces and sent the pieces throughout the territory assigned to Israel, for these men have committed a terrible and shameful crime.
7. Now then, all of you—the entire community of Israel—must decide here and now what should be done about this!”
8. And all the people rose to their feet in unison and declared, “None of us will return home! No, not even one of us!
9. Instead, this is what we will do to Gibeah; we will draw lots to decide who will attack it.
10. One-tenth of the men from each tribe will be chosen to supply the warriors with food, and the rest of us will take revenge on Gibeah of Benjamin for this shameful thing they have done in Israel.”
11. So all the Israelites were completely united, and they gathered together to attack the town.
12. The Israelites sent messengers to the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What a terrible thing has been done among you!
13. Give up those evil men, those troublemakers from Gibeah, so we can execute them and purge Israel of this evil.”But the people of Benjamin would not listen.
14. Instead, they came from their towns and gathered at Gibeah to fight the Israelites.