3. Meanwhile the people of Benjamin heard that all the other Israelites had gathered at Mizpah.The Israelites asked, “Tell us, how was this crime committed?”
4. The Levite whose concubine had been murdered answered, “My concubine and I went to Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin to spend the night.
5. The men of Gibeah came to attack me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me; instead they raped my concubine, and she died.
6. I took her body, cut it in pieces, and sent one piece to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. These people have committed an evil and immoral act among us.
7. All of you here are Israelites. What are we going to do about this?”
8. All the people stood up together and said, “None of us, whether he lives in a tent or in a house, will go home.
9. This is what we will do: we will draw lots and choose some men to attack Gibeah.
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.