Are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he dare to quarrel with Israel? Did he dare to fight with them?

He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel for eight years.

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

But his master said to him, “We should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live. We will travel on to Gibeah.”

When he got home, he took a knife, grabbed his concubine, and carved her up into twelve pieces. Then he sent the pieces throughout Israel.

All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba and from the land of Gilead left their homes and assembled together before the Lord at Mizpah.

The leaders of all the people from all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, which numbered four hundred thousand sword-wielding foot soldiers.

I grabbed hold of my concubine and carved her up and sent the pieces throughout the territory occupied by Israel, because they committed such an unthinkable atrocity in Israel.

The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “How could such a wicked thing take place?

The men of Israel (not counting Benjamin) had mustered four hundred thousand sword-wielding soldiers, every one an experienced warrior.

The Israelite army took heart and once more arranged their battle lines, in the same place where they had taken their positions the day before.

The Israelites attacked the Benjaminites the next day; they took their positions against Gibeah just as they had done before.

Then the Benjaminites said, “They are defeated just as before.” But the Israelites said, “Let’s retreat and lure them away from the city into the main roads.”

Ten thousand men, well-trained soldiers from all Israel, then made a frontal assault against Gibeah – the battle was fierce. But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was at their doorstep.

Then the Benjaminites saw they were defeated. The Israelites retreated before Benjamin, because they had confidence in the men they had hid in ambush outside Gibeah.

They retreated before the Israelites, taking the road to the wilderness. But the battle overtook them as men from the surrounding cities struck them down.

They said, “Why, O Lord God of Israel, has this happened in Israel?” An entire tribe has disappeared from Israel today!”

But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, for the Israelites took an oath, saying, ‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’

Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property.

May the Lord reward your efforts! May your acts of kindness be repaid fully by the Lord God of Israel, from whom you have sought protection!”