Judges 20

¹ All the people of Israel from Dan for north take reach Beersheba for south, and from the land of Gilead for east, answer the call. Dem gather in one body for the presence of God for Mizpah.

² Na all the leaders of all the tribes of Israel dey for this gathering of people of God, and na 400,000 foot soldiers dey there.

³ And the people of Benjamin don hear say all other Israelites don gather for Mizpah. The Israelites ask say, “Tell us, how dem commit the crime?”

⁴ The Levite wey dem kill him concubine answer say, “Me and my concubine go Gibeah for the territory of Benjamin to spend the night.

⁵ The men of Gibeah come attack me and dem surround the house for night. Dem wan kill me; instead dem rape my concubine, and she die.

⁶ I take her body, cut am to pieces, and I con send one piece to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. This people don commit evil and immoral act among us.

⁷ All of una here na Israelites. Wetin we go do about this?”

⁸ All the people con stand up together and say, “None of us, whether he dey live for tent or for house, go fit go home.

⁹ Na wetin we go do be this: we go draw lots and we go choose some men to attack Gibeah.

¹⁰ Na one tenth of the men of Israel go provide food for the army, and the others go punish Gibeah for the terrible thing wey dem don do for Israel.”

¹¹ Naso all the men for Israel con gather with one purpose - make dem attack the town.

¹² The Israelites tribes con send messengers all through the territory of Benjamin tribe make dem say, “Wetin be this crime wey una don commit?

¹³ Now make una hand over those bad people for Gibeah, so that we fit kill them and remove this evil from Israel.” But the people of Benjamin no pay attention to other Israelites.

¹⁴ Dem come from all the cities of Benjamin to Gibeah to fight against other people of Israel.

¹⁵ That day, dem call out 26,000 soldiers from their cities.

¹⁶ Apart from these, the citizens of Gibeah con gather 700 special chosen men wey dey use left-hand. Everyone one of them fit catapult a stone to hit front of hair and e no go miss.

¹⁷ The rest of the Israelites tribes con gather 400,000 soldiers wey dem don train.

¹⁸ The Israelites go to the place of worship for Bethel, and dem ask God for there say, “Which tribe go attack the Benjaminite first?” God answer say, “Tribe of Judah.”

¹⁹ Naso the Israelites dey go next morning and dem make camp near the city of Gibeah.

²⁰ Dem go attack the army of Benjamin, and dem put the soldiers for the position wey dey face the city.

²¹ The army of Benjamin come out of the city, and before the day end dem don kill 22,000 Israelites soldiers.

²² Then the Israelites con go to the place of worship and dem mourn for the presence of God until evening. Dem ask him, “Shey make we battle against our brothers the Benjamin people again?” God answer say, “Yes.”

²³ Naso the Israelites get courage, and dem put their soldiers for the same position as dem don do for the day before.

²⁴ Dem march against the army of Benjamin for the second time.

²⁵ And Benjamin army come out of Gibeah for second time, and kill 18,000 Israelites soldier wey dem don train.

²⁶ Then all the people of Israel con go up to Bethel and mourn. Dem siddon for there for presence of God and dem no chop till evening. Dem offer fellowship offering sacrifices and dem burn some sacrifices - all for the presence of God.

²⁷ For those days covenant box of God dey there for Bethel, and na Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron, dey in charge of am.

²⁸ The people ask God say, “Shey make we go out go fight our brother Benjamin again, or shey make we give up?” God answer say, “Fight. I go give una victory over them tomorrow.”

²⁹ Naso the Israelites con hide some soldiers round Gibeah.

³⁰ Dem con march against the army of Benjamin for the third day and dem put their soldiers for battle position dey face Gibeah, as dem don do before.

³¹ The Benjamin army come out to fight and dem lead them away from the city. As before, dem start to dey kill some Israelites for the open country for the road to Bethel and road to Gibeah. Dem kill about thirty Israelites.

³² The Benjamin people talk say, “We don beat them just as we don do before.” But the Israelites don plan to withdraw and dem lead them away from the city to the roads.

³³ So when the main army of Israel con pull back and dem regroup for Baaltamar, the men wey dey surround Gibeah con rush out from the place wey dem dey hide for the rocky country wey round the city.

³⁴ 10,000 men, wey dem chose out specially out of all Israel, to attack Gibeah, and the fight dey hard. The Benjamin army no know say their destruction don near.

³⁵ God don give Israel victory over the army of Benjamin. The Israelites con kill 25,100 of the enemy that day.

³⁶ And Benjamin army con know say dem don defeat them. The main body of the Israelite army don retreat from the Benjamin army because dem dey rely on top the men wey dem don hide round Gibeah.

³⁷ These men run quickly to Gibeah; dem spread out for the city and dem kill everyone for there.

³⁸ The main Israelites army and the men wey dey hide don arrange a signal. When dem see a big cloud of smoke wey dey go up from the town,

³⁹ Make the Israelites wey dey out for the battlefield turn round. The Benjamin army don already kill the thirty Israelites by this time. Dem tell themselves say, “Yes, we don beat them just as we don beat them before.”

⁴⁰ The signal con appear; a cloud of smoke start to dey go up from the town. The Benjamin army con look their back and dem surprise to see say the whole city don catch fire.

⁴¹ Then the Israelites con turn around, and dem put all the Benjamin army in fear because dem know say dem don nearly destroy.

⁴² Dem withdraw from Israelites and dem run to the open country, but dem no fit escape. Dem catch them between the main army and the men wey dey come out of the city, and dem destroy them.

⁴³ The Israelites don trap the enemy, and dem no stop to dey pursue them far reach a point for east of Gibeah, dem dey kill them as dem want.

⁴⁴ Dem kill 88,000 of best Benjamin soldiers.

⁴⁵ The others con turn and dem run to the open country to the Rock of Rimmon, dem kill 5,000 of them along the road. The Israelites continue to dey pursue the rest go Gidom, dem kill 2,000.

⁴⁶ For that day, dem kill 25,000 Benjamin soldiers - all of their brave soldiers.

⁴⁷ But 600 men con escape to the open country to the Rock of Rimmon, and dem stay there for four months.

⁴⁸ The Israelites con turn back against the rest of Benjamin people and dem kill all of them - men, women, children, and animals too. Dem burn every town for that area.