Judges 20:8-17

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 

[20:8]  ¹ tn Heb “as one man.”

[20:8]  ² tn Heb “to his tent.”

[20:8]  ³ tn Or “turn aside.”

[20:9]  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).

[20:10]  ⁷ tn Or “people.”

[20:10]  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.”

[20:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “gathered at the city as one man, united.”

[20:12]  ¹³ tc The MT reads the plural, but surely the singular (which is supported by the LXX and Vulgate) is preferable here.

[20:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “What is this wicked thing which happened among you?”

[20:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the men, sons of wickedness.”

[20:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and burn away wickedness from Israel.”

[20:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “assembled from the cities at Gibeah.”

[20:15]  ²² tn Heb “besides from the ones living in Gibeah they mustered seven hundred choice men.”

[20:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “And from all this people.”

[20:16]  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.

[20:16]  ²⁷ tn “at a single hair and not miss.”

[20:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “a man of war.”