Judges 20

Then all the people of Israel came out, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, along with the land of Gilead. The whole assembly gathered as one body before the LORD at Mizpeh.

1Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh.

NoteDan was the northernmost Israelite settlement and Beersheba the southernmost, so "from Dan to Beersheba" was a stock phrase meaning the entire country; Gilead is named separately because it lay east of the Jordan, off that north–south line. Mizpeh (also spelled Mizpah) was a town inside Benjamin's own territory that served as a national meeting place; the name means "lookout point".

2The leaders of all the people, from every tribe of Israel, took their places in the assembly of God's people: four hundred thousand foot soldiers armed with swords.

2And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.

Note"Leaders" translates a Hebrew word literally meaning "corners", as in the cornerstones that carry a building. The word translated "thousand" can also mean a clan or a military unit of unspecified size, so totals like four hundred thousand may stand for a considerably smaller force than the figure suggests.

3(Meanwhile the people of Benjamin heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpeh.) The Israelites said, "Tell us, how did this evil thing happen?"

3(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness?

4So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered: "I came to Gibeah in Benjamin with my concubine to spend the night there.

4And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.

NoteA Levite was a member of the tribe of Levi, which received no territory of its own and supplied Israel's priests and sanctuary staff; Levites lived scattered in towns among the other tribes. A concubine was a legally recognized wife of secondary rank, the relationship was a real marriage, but she and any children had weaker claims than a chief wife and hers. Gibeah was a town of Benjamin a few miles north of the later site of Jerusalem.

5During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house where I was. They meant to kill me, and they raped my concubine, and she died.

5And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead.

NoteThe Levite is retelling the events of chapter 19. His version leaves out that he himself pushed the woman out of the door to the men outside.

6So I took my concubine, cut her into pieces, and sent the pieces through every part of the land Israel was given, because these men had done a shameful and disgraceful thing in Israel.

6And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.

NoteCutting up a body and sending the pieces round the country was a recognized form of summons: it demanded that every tribe answer, and carried an implied threat against anyone who ignored it. Saul issues the same kind of call with a butchered ox in 1 Samuel 11.

7Look, you are all Israelites. Give your advice and your decision here and now."

7Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel.

8Then all the people stood up as one body and said, "Not one of us will go back to his tent. Not one of us will go home.

8And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house.

Note"Go back to his tent" was a set phrase for an army breaking up and every man going home; it does not mean these men lived in tents. The pairing with "go home" is the standard doubled form of the oath.

9This is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it as the lot decides.

9But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it;

NoteCasting lots meant drawing marked stones or sticks. The result was treated not as chance but as a decision handed down, and here it settles which units go into battle first.

10We will take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand. They will bring food for the army, so that when the army reaches Gibeah in Benjamin, it can pay the city back for the disgraceful thing done in Israel."

10And we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel.

11So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, joined together as one body.

11So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

12The tribes of Israel sent men all through the tribe of Benjamin, saying, "What is this wicked thing that has been done among you?

12And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you?

13Now hand over those worthless men in Gibeah, so we can put them to death and clear this evil out of Israel." But the people of Benjamin would not listen to their fellow Israelites.

13Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel:

Note"Worthless men" translates the Hebrew "sons of Belial". Belial is an ordinary noun meaning something like "worthlessness" or "ruin"; only much later writers turned it into the name of a demonic figure. "Clear this evil out of Israel" is a fixed legal formula from Israel's law: putting the offender to death was held to remove guilt that would otherwise attach to the whole community.

14Instead, the people of Benjamin came together at Gibeah from their towns, to go out and fight against the Israelites.

14But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

15That day the men of Benjamin from the towns were counted: twenty-six thousand men armed with swords, besides the men living in Gibeah, who counted seven hundred chosen men.

15And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

16Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed. Each one could sling a stone at a target the width of a hair and not miss.

16Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.

NoteThe Hebrew for "left-handed" reads literally "restricted in the right hand", the same expression used of Ehud in Judges 3. The tribal name Benjamin means "son of the right hand". A sling was a leather strap whirled to hurl a stone, an accurate long-range weapon in trained hands, not a toy. Whether these seven hundred slingers are the same men as the seven hundred of Gibeah in the previous verse or a separate group is not clear in the Hebrew, and ancient copies differ.

17The men of Israel, not counting Benjamin, were counted at four hundred thousand men armed with swords, all of them trained fighters.

17And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.

18The Israelites set out and went up to Bethel and asked God, "Which of us should go up first to fight the people of Benjamin?" The LORD said, "Judah will go first."

18And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up first.

NoteKJV's "house of God" is the place name Bethel, which means exactly that. "Asked God" means putting a yes/no or either/or question to a priest at a sanctuary, who obtained the answer by a prescribed procedure, see verses 27 and 28 for where and through whom.

19The next morning the Israelites set out and made camp near Gibeah.

19And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah.

20The men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin and took up their battle positions facing Gibeah.

20And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah.

21The men of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the field that day.

21And 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.

22But the army of Israel took courage and again took up their battle positions in the same place where they had lined up on the first day.

22And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.

23(The Israelites had gone up and wept before the LORD until evening, and they asked the LORD, "Should we go out again to fight against our brothers the people of Benjamin?" And the LORD said, "Go up against them.")

23(And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.)

NoteThe Hebrew tells this out of sequence: the weeping and the consultation happened during the night after the first defeat, before the redeployment described in verse 22. The KJV marks the flashback with brackets.

24So on the second day the Israelites advanced against the people of Benjamin.

24And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.

25That second day Benjamin came out of Gibeah against them and cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites, all of them armed with swords.

25And 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.

26Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel. They wept and sat there before the LORD, and they went without food that day until evening, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD.

26Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

NoteFasting meant going without food through the daylight hours. A burnt offering was an animal burned whole on the altar; a peace (or fellowship) offering had only certain parts burned, the rest being eaten as a shared meal by the worshipers. Offered together they marked a formal appeal and a restored relationship.

27And the Israelites asked the LORD what to do. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there,

27And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

NoteThe ark of the covenant was a gilded wooden chest holding the stone tablets of the law, understood as the place where God's presence met Israel. Saying where the ark was identifies Bethel as the central sanctuary in this period, and so explains where an answer could be obtained.

28and Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, served before it in those days.) They asked, "Should we go out again to fight against our brothers the people of Benjamin, or should we stop?" The LORD said, "Go up, for tomorrow I will hand them over to you."

28And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.

NotePhinehas was Aaron's grandson. That places these events only a generation or two after the exodus and the entry into Canaan, very early in the period of the judges, even though the story stands near the end of the book.

29So Israel set men in hiding all around Gibeah.

29And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah.

30On the third day the Israelites went up against the people of Benjamin and took up their positions facing Gibeah, as they had done before.

30And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.

31The men of Benjamin came out against the army and were drawn away from the city. They began to strike people down and kill them as before, about thirty men of Israel, out in the open country and on the roads, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah.

31And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

32The men of Benjamin said, "We are beating them, just as before." But the Israelites said, "Let us run away and pull them from the city onto the roads."

32And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways.

33So all the men of Israel got up from where they were and took up their positions at Baaltamar, and the Israelites who lay hidden rushed out from their places in the open ground near Gibeah.

33And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baaltamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah.

NoteBaaltamar means "lord of the palm tree", a place named for a landmark tree. The Hebrew describing where the hidden men emerged from is uncertain: it may mean the open ground west of Gibeah, or a meadow, or a bare stretch of ground near the town.

34Ten thousand chosen men from all Israel came at Gibeah head-on, and the fighting was fierce. But the men of Benjamin did not know that disaster was right upon them.

34And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near them.

35The LORD struck Benjamin down in front of Israel, and that day the Israelites killed twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin, all of them armed with swords.

35And the LORD smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword.

NoteThis verse states the outcome; verses 36 to 46 then go back and retell the same battle in detail. The two accounts do not quite square arithmetically, 25,100 here, against 18,000 plus 5,000 plus 2,000 in verses 44 and 45, totaled as 25,000 in verse 46.

36Then the men of Benjamin saw that they were beaten. The men of Israel had given ground to Benjamin because they were counting on the men they had hidden near Gibeah.

36So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah.

37The men in hiding moved fast and rushed at Gibeah. They spread out and struck the whole city with the sword.

37And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the liers in wait drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword.

38The men of Israel and the men in hiding had agreed on a signal: the hidden men would send up a great flame and cloud of smoke from the city.

38Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city.

39Then the men of Israel would turn around in the battle. Benjamin had begun to strike down and kill about thirty Israelites, and they said, "We are surely beating them, just as in the first battle."

39And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle.

40But when the flame and the column of smoke began to rise from the city, the men of Benjamin looked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in flames toward the sky.

40But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the flame of the city ascended up to heaven.

41Then the men of Israel turned back on them, and the men of Benjamin were terrified, because they saw that disaster had come upon them.

41And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them.

42So they turned their backs and ran from the men of Israel toward the wilderness, but the fighting caught up with them, and those who came out of the towns cut them down among them.

42Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and them which came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them.

43They surrounded the men of Benjamin, chased them, and trampled them down easily near Gibeah, on the east side.

43Thus they inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trode them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sunrising.

NoteThe Hebrew of this line is obscure. The word rendered "easily" can also be read as "at their resting place" or as a place name, Menuhah, so translations differ over whether it describes the manner of the pursuit or names where it ended.

44Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell, all of them brave fighters.

44And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valour.

45The rest turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon. Israel picked off five thousand of them along the roads, chased them hard as far as Gidom, and killed two thousand more.

45And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.

Note"Picked off" renders a harvesting word: gleaning is the gathering of stray grain left behind by the reapers, so the picture is of stragglers being collected one at a time.

46So all the men of Benjamin who fell that day were twenty-five thousand men armed with swords, all of them brave fighters.

46So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour.

47But six hundred men turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months.

47But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months.

NoteThe rock of Rimmon was a crag or cliff, the name means "pomegranate", offering a defensible refuge. These six hundred are all that is left of the tribe, and chapter 21 takes up their situation.

48Then the men of Israel turned back on the rest of Benjamin. They struck them with the sword: the people of every town, the animals, and everything they found. And they set fire to every town they came to.

48And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

NotePutting a town's people and livestock to the sword and burning it was the treatment Israel's law laid down for enemy cities, and for an Israelite town that had gone over to other gods (Deuteronomy 13). Here it is applied to the towns of a fellow tribe.