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Judges 20
Lexham English Bible

The Punishment of Benjamin

20 All the Israelites[a] went out, from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, and they gathered as one body[b] to Yahweh at Mizpah. 2 And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand sword-bearing infantry. 3 (The descendants[c] of Benjamin heard that the Israelites[d] had gone up to Mizpah.) And the Israelites[e] said, “Tell us, how did this evil act occur?” 4 The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered and said, “I came to Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night. 5 The lords of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, and they raped my concubine, and she died. 6 Then I grabbed my concubine and cut her into pieces, and I sent her throughout all the territory of Israel’s inheritance; for they committed a shameful and disgraceful thing in Israel. 7 Look, all you Israelites![f] Make your decision[g] and advice here.”

8 All the people got up as one body,[h] saying, “Not one of us will go to his tent, or will any of us return to his house. 9 So then, this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against her by lot. 10 We will take ten men of one hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and one thousand of ten thousand, to bring provisions to the troops, to repay them when they come to Gibeah[i] of Benjamin for all the disgraceful things[j] they did in Israel.” 11 And all the men of Israel were gathered to the city as one body[k] united.

12 Then the tribes of Israel sent men throughout all the tribes of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that happened among you? 13 So then, hand over the men, the perverse lot,[l] who are in Gibeah, so that we may kill them and purge this wickedness from Israel.” But the descendants[m] of Benjamin were not willing to listen to the voice of their relatives,[n] the Israelites.[o] 14 And the descendants[p] of Benjamin were gathered from the cities to Gibeah to go out for battle against the Israelites.[q] 15 From the cities the descendants[r] of Benjamin were counted on that day twenty-six thousand sword-wielding men,[s] besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were counted seven hundred well-trained[t] men. 16 From all these troops were seven hundred well-trained[u] men who were left-handed;[v] each one could sling with a stone at a hair and not miss. 17 And the men of Israel besides Benjamin were counted four hundred thousand sword-wielding men;[w] all were warriors.[x]

18 Then the Israelites[y] got up and went up to Bethel, and they inquired of God, saying, “Who will go up first for the battle against the descendants[z] of Benjamin?” And Yahweh said, “Judah will go first.” 19 And the Israelites[aa] got up in the morning, and they encamped against Gibeah. 20 Then the men of Israel marched out for the battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel took up positions against them for battle at Gibeah. 21 The descendants[ab] of Benjamin went out from Gibeah, and they struck down on that day twenty-two thousand men of Israel to the ground. 22 But the troops, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves,[ac] and again they arranged their battle lines in the place where they had arranged themselves the first day. 23 The Israelites[ad] went up and wept before Yahweh until evening and inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Should we again draw near from the battle against the descendants[ae] of Benjamin, our relatives?”[af] And Yahweh said, “Go up against them.”[ag]

24 And the Israelites[ah] drew near to the descendants[ai] of Benjamin on the second day. 25 And Benjamin went out from Gibeah to meet them on the second day, and they struck down the Israelites[aj] again, eighteen thousand men to the ground; all of these were sword-wielding.[ak] 26 And all the Israelites[al] and all the troops went up and came to Bethel and wept; and they sat there before Yahweh and fasted on that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before Yahweh. 27 And the Israelites[am] inquired of Yahweh (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there, 28 and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was standing before it[an] to minister in those days), saying, “Should we go out once more to battle against the descendants[ao] of Benjamin our relatives,[ap] or should we stop?” And Yahweh said, “Go up tomorrow; I will give them[aq] into your hand.”

29 So Israel stationed an ambush all around Gibeah. 30 And the Israelites[ar] went up against the descendants[as] of Benjamin on the third day, and they took up positions against Gibeah as before. 31 The descendants[at] of Benjamin went out to meet the troops, and they lured them away from the city and began to inflict casualties on the troops as before, on the main road, one of which goes up to Bethel, the other to Gibeah; and in the field there were about thirty men of Israel. 32 And the descendants[au] of Benjamin thought,[av] “They are being defeated before us as previously,”[aw] and the Israelites[ax] said, “Let us flee and lure them[ay] away from the city to the main roads.” 33 And all the men of Israel got up from their places[az] and took up positions in Baal Tamar; and the ambush of Israel charged from their places,[ba] from the vicinity of Gibeah.[bb] 34 Then ten thousand well-trained[bc] men from all Israel came out against Gibeah, and the battle became fierce;[bd] they did not know that disaster was about to close in[be] on them. 35 And Yahweh defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and the Israelites[bf] destroyed on that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin, all of them sword-wielding.[bg]

36 The descendants[bh] of Benjamin saw that they were defeated, and the men of Israel gave ground[bi] to Benjamin because they trusted the ambush that they had set against Gibeah. 37 And the ambush came quickly and advanced against Gibeah, and it put the whole city to the sword.[bj] 38 Now the appointed time for the men of Israel with the ambush was that they sent up for them a great amount of smoke from the city. 39 And the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to inflict casualties on about thirty men of Israel because they thought,[bk] “They will be completely defeated before us as in the first battle.” 40 And the cloud of smoke began to go up from the city in a column of smoke, and Benjamin turned backward, and behold, the whole city was going up in smoke![bl] 41 And the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed because they saw that disaster was closing in[bm] on them. 42 And they retreated from before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness, but the battle caught up to them, and those who came from the cities[bn] destroyed them in the midst of them. 43 They surrounded Benjamin; they pursued them[bo] without rest[bp] and trod them[bq] down opposite Gibeah to the east. 44 And eighteen thousand men from Benjamin fell, all of them able men.[br] 45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, but they cut down on the main roads five thousand men; and they pursued after them up to Gidom, and they struck down two thousand men. 46 So all of Benjamin who fell on that day were twenty-five thousand sword-wielding men;[bs] all of these were able men.[bt] 47 But six hundred turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, and they remained at the rock of Rimmon for four months. 48 And the men of Israel returned to the descendants[bu] of Benjamin, and they put them to the edge of the sword,[bv] both the inhabitants of city and the animals that were found; they also set on fire all the cities that they found.

Footnotes

  1. Judges 20:1 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  2. Judges 20:1 Hebrew “man”
  3. Judges 20:3 Or “sons/children”
  4. Judges 20:3 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  5. Judges 20:3 Literally “sons of Israel” or “children of “Israel”
  6. Judges 20:7 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  7. Judges 20:7 Literally “give your word”
  8. Judges 20:8 Hebrew “man”
  9. Judges 20:10 Hebrew “Geba”
  10. Judges 20:10 Hebrew “thing”
  11. Judges 20:11 Hebrew “man”
  12. Judges 20:13 Literally “sons of uselessness”
  13. Judges 20:13 Or “sons/children”
  14. Judges 20:13 Or “brothers”
  15. Judges 20:13 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  16. Judges 20:14 Or “sons/children”
  17. Judges 20:14 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  18. Judges 20:15 Or “sons/children”
  19. Judges 20:15 Literally “men drawing sword”
  20. Judges 20:15 Or “chosen”
  21. Judges 20:16 Or “choice/chosen”
  22. Judges 20:16 Literally “bound by his right hand”
  23. Judges 20:17 Literally “men drawing sword”
  24. Judges 20:17 Literally “all were men of war”
  25. Judges 20:18 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  26. Judges 20:18 Or “sons/children”
  27. Judges 20:19 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  28. Judges 20:21 Or “sons/children”
  29. Judges 20:22 Literally “took heart”
  30. Judges 20:23 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  31. Judges 20:23 Or “sons/children”
  32. Judges 20:23 Hebrew “my brother”
  33. Judges 20:23 Hebrew “him”
  34. Judges 20:24 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  35. Judges 20:24 Or “sons/children”
  36. Judges 20:25 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  37. Judges 20:25 Literally “drawers of sword”
  38. Judges 20:26 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  39. Judges 20:27 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  40. Judges 20:28 Literally “before presence of it/him”
  41. Judges 20:28 Or “sons/children”
  42. Judges 20:28 Hebrew “my brother”
  43. Judges 20:28 Hebrew “him”
  44. Judges 20:30 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  45. Judges 20:30 Or “sons/children”
  46. Judges 20:31 Or “sons/children”
  47. Judges 20:32 Or “sons/children”
  48. Judges 20:32 Or “said”
  49. Judges 20:32 Literally “on the first”
  50. Judges 20:32 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  51. Judges 20:32 Hebrew “him”
  52. Judges 20:33 Hebrew “place”
  53. Judges 20:33 Hebrew “place”
  54. Judges 20:33 Hebrew “Geba”
  55. Judges 20:34 Or “choice/chosen”
  56. Judges 20:34 Or “the battle became heavy”
  57. Judges 20:34 Literally “touching”
  58. Judges 20:35 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  59. Judges 20:35 Literally “drawing sword”
  60. Judges 20:36 Or “sons/children”
  61. Judges 20:36 Or “a place” or “space”
  62. Judges 20:37 Literally “struck the whole city with the mouth of the sword”
  63. Judges 20:39 Or “said”
  64. Judges 20:40 Literally “to heaven”
  65. Judges 20:41 Literally “touching”
  66. Judges 20:42 Other ancient translations “city”
  67. Judges 20:43 Hebrew “him”
  68. Judges 20:43 Or “at Nohah,” a location
  69. Judges 20:43 Hebrew “him”
  70. Judges 20:44 Literally “men of strength”
  71. Judges 20:46 Literally “men drawing sword”
  72. Judges 20:46 Literally “men of strength”
  73. Judges 20:48 Or “sons/children”
  74. Judges 20:48 Literally the mouth of the sword”
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Judges 20
Holman Christian Standard Bible

War against Benjamin

20 All the Israelites from Dan to Beer-sheba(A) and from the land of Gilead came out, and the community assembled as one body before the Lord at Mizpah.(B) 2 The leaders(C) of all the people and of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: 400,000 armed foot soldiers. 3 The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.

The Israelites asked, “Tell us, how did this outrage occur?”

4 The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered: “I went to Gibeah in Benjamin with my concubine to spend the night. 5 Citizens of Gibeah ganged up on me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, but they raped my concubine, and she died. 6 Then I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout Israel’s territory, because they committed a horrible shame(D) in Israel. 7 Look, all of you are Israelites. Give your judgment and verdict here and now.”

8 Then all the people stood united and said, “None of us will go to his tent or return to his house. 9 Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go against it by lot. 10 We will take 10 men out of every 100 from all the tribes of Israel, and 100 out of every 1,000, and 1,000 out of every 10,000 to get provisions for the people when they go to Gibeah in Benjamin to punish them for all the horror they did in Israel.”

11 So all the men of Israel gathered united against the city. 12 Then the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this outrage that has occurred among you? 13 Hand over the perverted men in Gibeah so we can put them to death and eradicate evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not obey their fellow Israelites. 14 Instead, the Benjaminites gathered together from their cities to Gibeah to go out and fight against the Israelites. 15 On that day the Benjaminites rallied 26,000 armed men(E) from their cities, besides 700 choice men rallied by the inhabitants of Gibeah. 16 There were 700 choice men who were left-handed among all these people; all could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

17 The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, rallied 400,000 armed men, every one an experienced warrior. 18 They set out, went to Bethel, and inquired of God.(F) The Israelites asked, “Who is to go first to fight for us against the Benjaminites?”

And the Lord answered, “Judah will be first.”

19 In the morning, the Israelites set out and camped near Gibeah. 20 The men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin and took their battle positions against Gibeah. 21 The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and slaughtered 22,000 men of Israel on the field that day. 22 But the Israelite army rallied and again took their battle positions in the same place where they positioned themselves on the first day. 23 They went up, wept(G) before the Lord until evening, and inquired of Him: “Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites?”

And the Lord answered: “Fight against them.”

24 On the second day the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites. 25 That same day the Benjaminites came out from Gibeah to meet them and slaughtered an additional 18,000 Israelites on the field; all were armed men.

26 The whole Israelite army went to Bethel where they wept and sat before the Lord.(H) They fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. 27 Then the Israelites inquired of the Lord. In those days, the ark of the covenant(I) of God was there, 28 and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving before it. The Israelites asked: “Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites or should we stop?”

The Lord answered: “Fight, because I will hand them over to you tomorrow.”(J) 29 So Israel set up an ambush(K) around Gibeah. 30 On the third day the Israelites fought against the Benjaminites and took their battle positions against Gibeah as before. 31 Then the Benjaminites came out against the people and were drawn away from the city.(L) They began to attack the people as before, killing about 30 men of Israel on the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah through the open country. 32 The Benjaminites said, “We are defeating them as before.”

But the Israelites said, “Let’s flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” 33 So all the men of Israel got up from their places and took their battle positions at Baal-tamar, while the Israelites in ambush charged out of their places west of[a] Geba.(M) 34 Then 10,000 choice men from all Israel made a frontal assault against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce, but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was about to strike them. 35 The Lord defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 men of Benjamin; all were armed men. 36 Then the Benjaminites realized they had been defeated.

The men of Israel had retreated before Benjamin, because they were confident in the ambush they had set against Gibeah. 37 The men in ambush had rushed quickly against Gibeah; they advanced and put the whole city to the sword. 38 The men of Israel had a prearranged signal with the men in ambush: when they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city, 39 the men of Israel would return to the battle. When Benjamin had begun to strike them down, killing about 30 men of Israel, they said, “They’re defeated before us, just as they were in the first battle.”(N) 40 But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, Benjamin looked behind them, and the whole city was going up in smoke.[b] 41 Then the men of Israel returned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had struck them. 42 They retreated before the men of Israel toward the wilderness,(O) but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the cities[c] slaughtered those between them. 43 They surrounded the Benjaminites, pursued them, and easily overtook them near Gibeah toward the east. 44 There were 18,000 men who died from Benjamin; all were warriors. 45 Then Benjamin turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon,(P) and Israel killed 5,000 men on the highways. They overtook them at Gidom and struck 2,000 more dead.

46 All the Benjaminites who died that day were 25,000 armed men; all were warriors. 47 But 600 men escaped into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and stayed there four months. 48 The men of Israel turned back against the other Benjaminites and killed them with their swords—the entire city, the animals, and everything that remained. They also burned down all the cities that remained.

Footnotes

  1. Judges 20:33 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads places in the plain of, or places in the cave of
  2. Judges 20:40 Lit up to the sky
  3. Judges 20:42 LXX, Vg read city
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