Judges 20:1-25

Civil War Breaks Out

20:1 All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba ¹  and from the land of Gilead ²  left their homes ³  and assembled together ⁴  before the Lord at Mizpah. 20:2 The leaders ⁵  of all the people from all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, which numbered ⁶  four hundred thousand sword-wielding foot soldiers. 20:3 The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. Then the Israelites said, “Explain how this wicked thing happened!” 20:4 The Levite, ⁷  the husband of the murdered woman, spoke up, “I and my concubine stopped in ⁸  Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin ⁹  to spend the night. 20:5 The leaders of Gibeah attacked me and at night surrounded the house where I was staying. ¹⁰  They wanted to kill me; instead they abused my concubine so badly that she died. 20:6 I grabbed hold of my concubine and carved her up and sent the pieces ¹¹  throughout the territory occupied by Israel, ¹²  because they committed such an unthinkable atrocity ¹³  in Israel. 20:7 All you Israelites, ¹⁴  make a decision here!” ¹⁵ 

20:8 All Israel rose up in unison ¹⁶  and said, “Not one of us will go home! ¹⁷  Not one of us will return ¹⁸  to his house! 20:9 Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: We will attack the city as the lot dictates. ¹⁹  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. ²⁰  When they arrive in Gibeah of Benjamin they will punish them for the atrocity which they committed in Israel.” ²¹  20:11 So all the men of Israel gathered together at the city as allies. ²² 

20:12 The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe ²³  of Benjamin, saying, “How could such a wicked thing take place? ²⁴  20:13 Now, hand over the good-for-nothings ²⁵  in Gibeah so we can execute them and purge Israel of wickedness.” ²⁶  But the Benjaminites refused to listen to their Israelite brothers. 20:14 The Benjaminites came from their cities and assembled at Gibeah ²⁷  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. ²⁸  20:16 Among this army ²⁹  were seven hundred specially-trained left-handed soldiers. ³⁰  Each one could sling a stone and hit even the smallest target. ³¹  20:17 The men of Israel (not counting Benjamin) had mustered four hundred thousand sword-wielding soldiers, every one an experienced warrior. ³² 

20:18 The Israelites went up to Bethel ³³  and asked God, ³⁴  “Who should lead the charge against the Benjaminites?” ³⁵  The Lord said, “Judah should lead.” 20:19 The Israelites got up the next morning and moved ³⁶  against Gibeah. 20:20 The men of Israel marched out to fight Benjamin; they ³⁷  arranged their battle lines against Gibeah. 20:21 The Benjaminites attacked from Gibeah and struck down twenty-two thousand Israelites that day. ³⁸ 

20:22 The Israelite army ³⁹  took heart ⁴⁰  and once more arranged their battle lines, in the same place where they had taken their positions the day before. 20:23 The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening. They asked the Lord, “Should we ⁴¹  again march out to fight ⁴²  the Benjaminites, our brothers?” ⁴³  The Lord said, “Attack them!” ⁴⁴  20:24 So the Israelites marched toward ⁴⁵  the Benjaminites the next day. 20:25 The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers. ⁴⁶ 

[20:1]  ¹ sn Dan was located in the far north of the country, while Beer Sheba was located in the far south. This encompassed all the territory of the land of Canaan occupied by the Israelites.

[20:1]  ² sn The land of Gilead was on the eastern side of the Jordan River.

[20:1]  ³ tn Heb “went out.”

[20:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the assembly was convened as one man.”

[20:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “the cornerstones”; or “the supports.” The word is used of leaders in only three other texts – 1 Sam 14:38; Isa 19:13; Zech 10:4.

[20:2]  ⁶ tn The words “which numbered” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[20:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “The man, the Levite.”

[20:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “came to.”

[20:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “which belongs to Benjamin.”

[20:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “arose against me and surrounded against me the house at night.”

[20:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “her”; the referent is more naturally stated in English as “the pieces.”

[20:6]  ¹² tn Heb “throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel.”

[20:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “a wicked and disgraceful [thing].”

[20:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Look, all of you sons of Israel.”

[20:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “give for yourselves a word and advice here.”

[20:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “as one man.”

[20:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to his tent.”

[20:8]  ¹⁸ tn Or “turn aside.”

[20:9]  ¹⁹ 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).

[20:10]  ²⁰ tn Or “people.”

[20:10]  ²¹ 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.”

[20:11]  ²² tn Heb “gathered at the city as one man, united.”

[20:12]  ²³ tc The MT reads the plural, but surely the singular (which is supported by the LXX and Vulgate) is preferable here.

[20:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “What is this wicked thing which happened among you?”

[20:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the men, sons of wickedness.”

[20:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and burn away wickedness from Israel.”

[20:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “assembled from the cities at Gibeah.”

[20:15]  ²⁸ tn Heb “besides from the ones living in Gibeah they mustered seven hundred choice men.”

[20:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “And from all this people.”

[20:16]  ³⁰ 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.

[20:16]  ³¹ tn “at a single hair and not miss.”

[20:17]  ³² tn Heb “a man of war.”

[20:18]  ³³ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[20:18]  ³⁴ tn Heb “They arose and went up to Bethel and asked God, and the Israelites said.”

[20:18]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Who should go up for us first for battle against the sons of Benjamin?”

[20:19]  ³⁶ tn Heb “encamped.”

[20:20]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the men of Israel.” The noun phrase has been replaced by the pronoun (“they”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[20:21]  ³⁸ tn Heb “The sons of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and they struck down in Israel that day twenty-two thousand men to the ground.”

[20:22]  ³⁹ tn Heb “The people, the men of Israel.”

[20:22]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “encouraged one another.”

[20:23]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “I” (collective singular).

[20:23]  ⁴² tn Heb “approach for battle.”

[20:23]  ⁴³ tn Heb “my brother” (collective singular).

[20:23]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “Go up against him” (collective singular).

[20:24]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “drew near to.”

[20:25]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “And Benjamin went out to meet them from Gibeah the second day, and they struck down among the sons of Israel eighteen thousand men to the ground, all of these were wielding the sword.”