Judges 20:46

20:46 That day twenty-five thousand ¹  sword-wielding Benjaminites fell in battle, all of them capable warriors. ² 

Judges 3:3

3:3 These were the nations: ³  the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo-Hamath. ⁴ 

Judges 20:45

20:45 The rest ⁵  turned and ran toward the wilderness, heading toward the cliff of Rimmon. But the Israelites ⁶  caught ⁷  five thousand of them on the main roads. They stayed right on their heels ⁸  all the way to Gidom and struck down two thousand more.

Judges 18:2

18:2 The Danites sent out from their whole tribe five representatives, ⁹  capable men ¹⁰  from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the Ephraimite hill country and spent the night at Micah’s house. ¹¹ 

Judges 18:7

18:7 So the five men journeyed on ¹²  and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there ¹³  were living securely, like the Sidonians do, ¹⁴  undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. ¹⁵  They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ¹⁶ 

Judges 18:14

18:14 The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish ¹⁷  said to their kinsmen, ¹⁸  “Do you realize that inside these houses are an ephod, some personal idols, a carved image, and a metal image? Decide now what you want to do.”

Judges 18:17

18:17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land broke in and stole ¹⁹  the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred fully armed men. ²⁰ 

Judges 20:35

20:35 The Lord annihilated Benjamin before Israel; the Israelites struck down that day 25,100 sword-wielding Benjaminites. ²¹ 

Judges 18:8

18:8 When the Danites returned to their tribe ²²  in Zorah and Eshtaol, their kinsmen ²³  asked them, “How did it go?” ²⁴ 

Judges 18:15

18:15 They stopped ²⁵  there, went inside the young Levite’s house (which belonged to Micah), ²⁶  and asked him how he was doing. ²⁷ 

Judges 7:11

7:11 and listen to what they are saying. Then you will be brave ²⁸  and attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to where the sentries were guarding the camp. ²⁹ 

¹ sn The number given here (twenty-five thousand sword-wielding Benjaminites) is an approximate figure; v. 35 gives the more exact number (25,100). According to v. 15, the Benjaminite army numbered 26,700 (26,000 + 700). The figures in vv. 35 (rounded in vv. 44-46) and 47 add up to 25,700. What happened to the other 1,000 men? The most reasonable explanation is that they were killed during the first two days of fighting. G. F. Moore (Judges [ICC], 429) and C. F. Burney (Judges, 475) reject this proposal, arguing that the narrator is too precise and concerned about details to omit such a fact. However, the account of the first two days’ fighting emphasizes Israel’s humiliating defeat. To speak of Benjaminite casualties would diminish the literary effect. In vv. 35, 44-47 the narrator’s emphasis is the devastating defeat that Benjamin experienced on this final day of battle. To mention the earlier days’ casualties at this point is irrelevant to his literary purpose. He allows readers who happen to be concerned with such details to draw conclusions for themselves.

² tn Heb “So all the ones who fell from Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men, wielding the sword, in that day, all of these men of strength.

³ tn The words “These were the nations,” though not present in the Hebrew text, are supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Or “the entrance to Hamath.”

⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the rest [of the Benjaminites]) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “and they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Heb “gleaned.” The word is an agricultural term which pictures Israelites picking off the Benjaminites as easily as one picks grapes from the vine.

⁸ tn Heb “stuck close after them.”

⁷ tn Heb “The Danites sent from their tribe five men, from their borders.”

⁸ tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

⁹ tn Heb “They came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, and spent the night there.”

⁹ tn Or “went.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “who were in its midst.”

¹¹ tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”

¹² tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”

¹³ tc Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX and Symmachus read “Syria” here rather than the MT’s “men.” This reading presupposes a Hebrew Vorlage אֲרָם (’aram, “Aram,” i.e., Arameans) rather than the MT reading אָדָם (’adam). This reading is possibly to be preferred over the MT.

¹¹ tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX lacks the phrase “of Laish.”

¹² tn Heb “brothers.”

¹³ tn Heb “went up, went in there, took.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “six hundred men, equipped with the weapons of war.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “And the sons of Israel struck down in Benjamin that day 25,100 men, all of these wielding the sword.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “They came to their brothers.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “brothers.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “What you?”

¹⁹ tn Heb “turned aside.”

²⁰ tn Heb “Micah’s house.”

²¹ tn Heb “they asked him concerning peace.”

²¹ tn Heb “your hands will be strengthened.”

²² tn Heb “to the edge of the ones in battle array who were in the camp.”