This is why ¹  the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately; ²  he did not hand them over to Joshua.

Eighteen thousand Benjaminites, all of them capable warriors, fell dead.

When the Lord’s messenger finished speaking these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. ¹ 

These were the nations the Lord permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel – he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites. ¹ 

When these men broke into Micah’s house and stole ¹  the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

That day twenty-five thousand ¹  sword-wielding Benjaminites fell in battle, all of them capable warriors. ² 

His mother’s relatives ¹  spoke on his behalf to ²  all the leaders of Shechem and reported his proposal. ³  The leaders were drawn to Abimelech; ⁴  they said, “He is our close relative.” ⁵ 

But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us. ¹  He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now.”

The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish ¹  said to their kinsmen, ²  “Do you realize that inside these houses are an ephod, some personal idols, a carved image, and a metal image? Decide now what you want to do.”

The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers. ¹ 

The Lord annihilated Benjamin before Israel; the Israelites struck down that day 25,100 sword-wielding Benjaminites. ¹