Judges 11:19-20

11:19 Israel sent messengers to King Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, “Please allow us to pass through your land to our land.” ¹  11:20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He ²  assembled his whole army, ³  camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

Judges 20:3

20:3 The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. Then the Israelites said, “Explain how this wicked thing happened!”

Judges 20:6

20:6 I grabbed hold of my concubine and carved her up and sent the pieces ⁴  throughout the territory occupied by Israel, ⁵  because they committed such an unthinkable atrocity ⁶  in Israel.

Judges 20:20

20:20 The men of Israel marched out to fight Benjamin; they ⁷  arranged their battle lines against Gibeah.

Judges 20:33

20:33 ⁸  All the men of Israel got up from their places and took their positions at Baal Tamar, while the Israelites hiding in ambush jumped out of their places west of Gibeah.

¹ tn Heb “to my place.”

² tn Heb “Sihon.” The proper name (“Sihon”) has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) because of English style; a repetition of the proper name here would be redundant in English.

³ tn Heb “all his people” (also in the following verse).

³ tn Heb “her”; the referent is more naturally stated in English as “the pieces.”

⁴ tn Heb “throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel.”

⁵ tn Heb “a wicked and disgraceful [thing].”

⁴ tn Heb “the men of Israel.” The noun phrase has been replaced by the pronoun (“they”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁵ sn Verses 33-36a give a condensed account of the battle from this point on, while vv. 36b-48 offer a more detailed version of how the ambush contributed to Gibeah’s defeat.