⁹ They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

⁹ O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood; the battle against the children of iniquity doth not overtake them in Gibeah.

¹³ As for the sacrifices of mine offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it; but Jehovah accepteth them not: now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt.

¹⁶ And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even: now the man was of the hill-country of Ephraim, and he sojourned in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites.

¹⁷ And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?

¹⁸ And he said unto him, We are passing from Beth-lehem-judah unto the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim; from thence am I, and I went to Beth-lehem-judah: and I am `now' going to the house of Jehovah; and there is no man that taketh me into his house.

¹⁹ Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man that is with thy servants: there is no want of anything.

²⁰ And the old man said, Peace be unto thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street.

²¹ So he brought him into his house, and gave the asses fodder; and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink.

²² As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows, beset the house round about, beating at the door; and they spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may know him.

²³ And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into my house, do not this folly.

²⁴ Behold, here is my daughter a virgin, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not any such folly.

²⁵ But the men would not hearken to him: so the man laid hold on his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.

²⁶ Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light.

²⁷ And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands upon the threshold.

²⁸ And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going; but none answered: then he took her up upon the ass; and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place.

²⁹ And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel.

³⁰ And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider it, take counsel, and speak.

¹ Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto Jehovah at Mizpah.

² And the chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.

³ (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpah.) And the children of Israel said, Tell us, how was this wickedness brought to pass?

⁴ And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was murdered, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.

⁵ And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about me by night; me they thought to have slain, and my concubine they forced, and she is dead.

⁶ And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.

⁷ Behold, ye children of Israel, all of you, give here your advice and counsel.

⁸ And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn unto his house.

⁹ But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: `we will go up' against it by lot;

¹⁰ and we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victuals for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel.

¹¹ So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

¹² And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is come to pass among you?

¹³ Now therefore deliver up the men, the base fellows, that are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel.

¹⁴ And the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

¹⁵ And the children of Benjamin were numbered on that day out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

¹⁶ Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at a hair-breadth, and not miss.

¹⁷ And the men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.

¹⁸ And the children of Israel arose, and went up to Beth-el, and asked counsel of God; and they said, Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin? And Jehovah said, Judah `shall go up' first.

¹⁹ And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah.

²⁰ And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah.

²¹ And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites on that day twenty and two thousand men.

⁶ Turn ye unto him from whom ye have deeply revolted, O children of Israel.

⁵ The earth also is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.