21 The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites(A) on the battlefield that day.

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21 And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men.

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25 This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites,(A) all of them armed with swords.

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25 And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.

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“Since the days of Gibeah,(A) you have sinned,(B) Israel,
    and there you have remained.[a]
Will not war again overtake
    the evildoers in Gibeah?

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 10:9 Or there a stand was taken

O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.

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Jeremiah’s Complaint

12 You are always righteous,(A) Lord,
    when I bring a case(B) before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:(C)
    Why does the way of the wicked prosper?(D)
    Why do all the faithless live at ease?

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12 Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?

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A Common Destiny for All

So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.(A) All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,[a] the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

As it is with the good,
    so with the sinful;
as it is with those who take oaths,
    so with those who are afraid to take them.(B)

This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all.(C) The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live,(D) and afterward they join the dead.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 9:2 Septuagint (Aquila), Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew does not have and the bad.

For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.

All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

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19 Your path(A) led through the sea,(B)
    your way through the mighty waters,
    though your footprints were not seen.

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19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

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18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;(A)
    you cast them down to ruin.(B)
19 How suddenly(C) are they destroyed,
    completely swept away(D) by terrors!

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18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.

19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

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16 No king is saved by the size of his army;(A)
    no warrior escapes by his great strength.

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16 There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.

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10 And now you intend to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves.(A) But aren’t you also guilty of sins against the Lord your God?

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10 And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God?

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Uncleanness in the Camp

When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure.(A)

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When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing.

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27 “Benjamin(A) is a ravenous wolf;(B)
    in the morning he devours the prey,(C)
    in the evening he divides the plunder.”(D)

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27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

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