20:8 All Israel rose up in unison 1 and said, “Not one of us will go home! 2 Not one of us will return 3 to his house! 20:9 Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: We will attack the city as the lot dictates. 4 20:10 We will take ten of every group of a hundred men from all the tribes of Israel (and a hundred of every group of a thousand, and a thousand of every group of ten thousand) to get supplies for the army. 5 When they arrive in Gibeah of Benjamin they will punish them for the atrocity which they committed in Israel.” 6 20:11 So all the men of Israel gathered together at the city as allies. 7
20:12 The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe 8 of Benjamin, saying, “How could such a wicked thing take place? 9 20:13 Now, hand over the good-for-nothings 10 in Gibeah so we can execute them and purge Israel of wickedness.” 11 But the Benjaminites refused to listen to their Israelite brothers. 20:14 The Benjaminites came from their cities and assembled at Gibeah 12 to make war against the Israelites. 20:15 That day the Benjaminites mustered from their cities twenty-six thousand sword-wielding soldiers, besides seven hundred well-trained soldiers from Gibeah. 13 20:16 Among this army 14 were seven hundred specially-trained left-handed soldiers. 15 Each one could sling a stone and hit even the smallest target. 16 20:17 The men of Israel (not counting Benjamin) had mustered four hundred thousand sword-wielding soldiers, every one an experienced warrior. 17
1 tn Heb “as one man.”
2 tn Heb “to his tent.”
3 tn Or “turn aside.”
4 tn Heb “against her by lot.” The verb “we will go up” (נַעֲלֶה, na’aleh) has probably been accidentally omitted before “against her” (עָלֶיהָ, ’aleha).
7 tn Or “people.”
8 tn Heb “to do at their arrival in Geba of Benjamin according to all the disgraceful [thing] which he [collective = “Benjamin”] did in Israel.” Here “Geba” must be an error for “Gibeah.”
10 tn Heb “gathered at the city as one man, united.”
13 tc The MT reads the plural, but surely the singular (which is supported by the LXX and Vulgate) is preferable here.
14 tn Heb “What is this wicked thing which happened among you?”
16 tn Heb “the men, sons of wickedness.”
17 tn Heb “and burn away wickedness from Israel.”
19 tn Heb “assembled from the cities at Gibeah.”
22 tn Heb “besides from the ones living in Gibeah they mustered seven hundred choice men.”
25 tn Heb “And from all this people.”
26 tn Heb “seven hundred choice men, bound/restricted in the right hand.” On the significance of the idiom, “bound/restricted in the right hand,” see the translator’s note on 3:15.
27 tn “at a single hair and not miss.”
28 tn Heb “a man of war.”