^12 (A)“If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in, saying, ^13 [a]‘Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” ’—which you have not known— ¹⁴ then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an ^[b]abomination was committed among you, ¹⁵ you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock—with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶ And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and ^[c]completely ^(B)burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the Lord your God. It shall be ^(C)a ^[d]heap forever; it shall not be built again. ^17 (D)So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the Lord may ^(E)turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and ^[e]multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, ¹⁸ because you have listened to the voice of the Lord your God, ^(F)to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

^12 (A)Then the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has occurred among you?

¹³ Now therefore, deliver up the men, ^(A)the ^[a]perverted men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and ^(B)remove the evil from Israel!” But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel.