1. So all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, joined together before the Lord in the city of Mizpah.
2. The leaders of all the tribes of Israel 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 forced my slave woman to have sexual relations and she died.
6. I took her and cut her into parts and sent one part to each area of Israel because the people of Benjamin did this wicked and terrible thing in Israel.
7. Now, all you Israelites, speak up. What is your decision?”
8. Then all the people stood up at the same time, saying, “None of us will go home. Not one of us will go back to his house!
22-23. The Israelites went before the Lord and cried until evening. They asked the Lord, “Shall we go to fight our relatives, the Benjaminites, again?”The Lord answered, “Go up and fight them.” The men of Israel encouraged each other. So they took the same battle positions they had taken the first day.