11 So all the men of Israel gathered against the city. They all agreed about what they were doing.
12 The tribes of Israel sent men to all the family groups of Benjamin with a message. They said, “What is this evil thing some of your men have done?
13 Give up the evil men in Gibeah so that we can put them to death. We must remove this evil from Israel.”But the Benjaminites would not listen to their relatives, the people of Israel.
14 The Benjaminites left their own cities and met at Gibeah. They went to fight against the Israelites.
15 In only one day the Benjaminites got 26,000 soldiers together. These soldiers were trained with swords. They also had 700 chosen men from Gibeah.
16 Seven hundred of these trained soldiers were left-handed. Each of these left-handed soldiers could sling a stone at a hair and not miss!
17 The Israelites, except for the Benjaminites, gathered 400,000 fighting men. These 400,000 men used swords and were trained soldiers.