Judges 20:1-9

1Then all the Israelites agreed to come together. They came from everywhere in Israel, from Dan in the north as far as Beersheba in the south. They also came from the Gilead region on the east side of the Jordan River. They all came together at Mizpah, to meet with the Lord.

2The leaders of all Israel's tribes stood there with the people of God. There were 400,000 Israelite men who had their weapons, ready to fight.

3By this time, the people of Benjamin's tribe had heard the news that the other tribes were meeting in Mizpah. Then the Israelites asked, ‘Tell us how this evil thing happened.’

4So the Levite, the husband of the dead woman, told them. He said, ‘My slave wife and I arrived in Gibeah to sleep there for the night. It is a town that belongs to the people of Benjamin's tribe.

5That night some important men of Gibeah came to the house to attack me. They stood all around the house. They wanted to kill me, but they took hold of my wife instead. They made her have sex with them, and she died.

6I took her body home and I cut it into 12 pieces. I sent the pieces everywhere in the land of Israel. I did this to show what a terrible thing these men had done.

7So now all you people of Israel must decide what you will do about it.’

8All the people stood up together. They all promised, ‘None of us will go home. Not one of us will return to his house.

9Instead, this is what we will do to the people of Gibeah. We will use lots to decide who should attack the city.