Gibeah in the Bible
Meaning: a hill
Exact Match
But his master said to him, "We should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live. We will travel on to Gibeah."
He said to his servant, "Come on, we will go into one of the other towns and spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah."
So they traveled on, and the sun went down when they were near Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin.
They stopped there and decided to spend the night in Gibeah. They came into the city and sat down in the town square, but no one invited them to spend the night.
But then an old man passed by, returning at the end of the day from his work in the field. The man was from the Ephraimite hill country; he was living temporarily in Gibeah. (The residents of the town were Benjaminites.)
The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, spoke up, "I and my concubine stopped in Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin to spend the night.
The leaders of Gibeah attacked me and at night surrounded the house where I was staying. They wanted to kill me; instead they abused my concubine so badly that she died.
Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: We will attack the city as the lot dictates.
We will take ten of every group of a hundred men from all the tribes of Israel (and a hundred of every group of a thousand, and a thousand of every group of ten thousand) to get supplies for the army. When they arrive in Gibeah of Benjamin they will punish them for the atrocity which they committed in Israel."
And so all the men of Israel gathered together, unto Gibeah, knit together as it had been but one man.
Now, hand over the good-for-nothings in Gibeah so we can execute them and purge Israel of wickedness." But the Benjaminites refused to listen to their Israelite brothers.
The Benjaminites came from their cities and assembled at Gibeah to make war against the Israelites.
That day the Benjaminites mustered from their cities twenty-six thousand sword-wielding soldiers, besides seven hundred well-trained soldiers from Gibeah.
The Israelites got up the next morning and moved against Gibeah.
The men of Israel marched out to fight Benjamin; they arranged their battle lines against Gibeah.
The Benjaminites attacked from Gibeah and struck down twenty-two thousand Israelites that day.
The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers.
So Israel hid men in ambush outside Gibeah.
The Israelites attacked the Benjaminites the next day; they took their positions against Gibeah just as they had done before.
The Benjaminites attacked the army, leaving the city unguarded. They began to strike down their enemy just as they had done before. On the main roads (one leads to Bethel, the other to Gibeah) and in the field, they struck down about thirty Israelites.
All the men of Israel got up from their places and took their positions at Baal Tamar, while the Israelites hiding in ambush jumped out of their places west of Gibeah.
Ten thousand men, well-trained soldiers from all Israel, then made a frontal assault against Gibeah -- the battle was fierce. But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was at their doorstep.
Then the Benjaminites saw they were defeated. The Israelites retreated before Benjamin, because they had confidence in the men they had hid in ambush outside Gibeah.
The men hiding in ambush made a mad dash to Gibeah. They attacked and put the sword to the entire city.
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Gibeah » Of saul » The people's wickedness
And they turned aside there to enter [and] to spend the night at Gibeah. And they went and sat in the open square of the city, but no one {took them in to spend the night}. Then behold, an old man [was] coming from his work from the field in the evening, and the man [was] from the hill country of Ephraim, and he [was] dwelling as a foreigner in Gibeah. (The people of the place [were] descendants of Benjamin.) And the old man raised his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city, and he said, "Where are you going, and from where do you come?" And he said to him, "We [are] crossing over from Bethlehem in Judah up to the remote areas of the hill country of Ephraim, where I [am] from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, but [now] I am going to Yahweh's house, but no one {took me in to spend the night}. There is both straw and fodder for our donkeys, and also bread and wine for me, for your servant, and for the young man who is with your servant; there is no lack of anything." And the old man said, "Peace to you. I will take care of your needs; however, you must not spend the night in the open square." So he brought him to his house, and he fed the donkeys; they washed their feet, ate, and drank. While {they were enjoying themselves}, behold, the men of the city, {the perverse lot}, surrounded the house, pounding on the door. And they said to the old man, the owner of the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so that {we may have sex with him}." So the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said to them, "No, my brothers, do not act wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this disgraceful thing. Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. Please, let me bring them out; do violence to them, and do to them {whatever you please}. Do not do this disgraceful thing to this man." But the men were not willing to listen to him, and the man seized his concubine and brought [her] out to them; and they had intercourse with her, and they abused her all night until the morning; they let her go at the approach of dawn. And the woman came as the morning appeared, and she fell [at] the entrance of the man's house where her master was, until daylight. In the morning her master got up, and he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his journey, and behold, his concubine [was] falling [at] the entrance of the house, with her hand on the threshold. And he said to her, "Get up, let us go," but there was no answer. So he put her on the donkey, and the man got up and went to his place. When he entered his house he took a knife, and he grasped his concubine and cut her into twelve pieces; and he sent her throughout the whole territory of Israel. All who saw [it] said, "Nothing like this has [ever] been since the {Israelites} went up from the land of Egypt until this day. Take note of it, consider [it], and speak [up]."