The word for all
appears twice (translated as whole
several words from its initial appearance as all
). This was not used in the first two battles when describing who went up to Bethel. Here the narrator is making plain that everyone is now involved in consulting the Lord, and in the activities immediately preceding it. Israel as a whole recognizes that their covenant relationship with God is broken.
26 Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.