Judges 20

ENGWEBEnglish48 verses

1Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to Yahweh at Mizpah.

2The chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen who drew sword.

3(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The children of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wickedness happen?”

4The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered, “I came into Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night.

5The men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house by night. They intended to kill me, and they raped my concubine, and she is dead.

6I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.

7Behold, you children of Israel, all of you, give here your advice and counsel.”

8All the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, neither will any of us turn to his house.

9But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot;

10and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to get food for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have worked in Israel.”

11So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

12The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What wickedness is this that is happen among you?

13Now therefore deliver up the men, the base fellows, who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel.” But Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers the children of Israel.

14The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

15The children of Benjamin were numbered on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

16Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed. Every one of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

17The men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men who drew sword. All these were men of war.

18The children of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God. They asked, “Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin?” Yahweh said, “Judah first.”

19The children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah.

20The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah.

21The children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day destroyed twenty-two thousand of the Israelite men down to the ground.

22The people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and set the battle again in array in the place where they set themselves in array the first day.

23The children of Israel went up and wept before Yahweh until evening; and they asked of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I again draw near to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?” Yahweh said, “Go up against him.”

24The children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.

25Benjamin went out against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men. All these drew the sword.

26Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there before Yahweh, and fasted that day until evening; then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Yahweh.

27The children of Israel asked Yahweh (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

28and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease?” Yahweh said, “Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand.”

29Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah.

30The children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.

31The children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to strike and kill of the people, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel, and the other to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

32The children of Benjamin said, “They are struck down before us, as at the first.” But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee, and draw them away from the city to the highways.”

33All the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at Baal Tamar. Then the ambushers of Israel broke out of their place, even out of Maareh Geba.

34Ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel came over against Gibeah, and the battle was severe; but they didn’t know that disaster was close to them.

35Yahweh struck Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men. All these drew the sword.

36So the children of Benjamin saw that they were struck; for the men of Israel yielded to Benjamin, because they trusted the ambushers whom they had set against Gibeah.

37The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; then the ambushers spread out, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.

38Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambushers was that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.

39The men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, “Surely they are struck down before us, as in the first battle.”

40But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and behold, the whole city went up in smoke to the sky.

41The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that disaster had come on them.

42Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the middle of it.

43They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and trod them down at their resting place, as far as near Gibeah toward the sunrise.

44Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor.

45They turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon; and they gleaned five thousand men of them in the highways, and followed hard after them to Gidom, and struck two thousand men of them.

46So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword. All these were men of valor.

47But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and stayed in the rock of Rimmon four months.

48The men of Israel turned again on the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the livestock, and all that they found. Moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.

Commentary

Chapter 20 Into the book of the wars of the Lord the story of this chapter must be brought, but it looks as sad and uncomfortable as any article in all that history; for there is nothing in it that looks in the least bright or pleasant but the pious zeal of Israel against the wickedness of the men of Gibeah, which made it on their side a just and holy war; but otherwise the obstinacy of the Benjamites in protecting their criminals, which was the foundation of the war, the vast loss which the Israelites sustained in carrying on the war, and (though the righteous cause was victorious at last) the issuing of the war in the almost utter extirpation of the tribe of Benjamin, make it, from first to last, melancholy. And yet this happened soon after the glorious settlement of Israel in the land of promise, upon which one would have expected every thing to be prosperous and serene. In this chapter we have, I. The Levite’s cause heard in a general convention of the tribes (v. 1-7). II. A unanimous resolve to avenge his quarrel upon the men of Gibeah (v. 8–11). III. The Benjamites appearing in defence of the criminals (v. 12–17). IV. The defeat of Israel in the first and second day’s battle (v. 18–25). V. Their humbling themselves before God upon that occasion (v. 26–28). VI. The total rout they gave the Benjamites in the third engagement, by a stratagem, by which they were all cut off, except 600 men (v. 29–48). And all this the effect of the indignities done to one poor Levite and his wife; so little do those that do iniquity consider what will be the end thereof.Verses 1-11 Here is, I. A general meeting of all the congregation of Israel to examine the matter concerning the Levite’s concubine, and to consider what was to be done upon it, v. 1, 2. It does not appear that they were summoned by the authority of any one common head, but they came together by the consent and agreement, as it were, of one common heart, fired with a holy zeal for the honour of God and Israel. 1. The place of their meeting was Mizpeh; they gathered together unto the Lord there, for Mizpeh was so very near to Shiloh that their encampment might very well be supposed to reach from Mizpeh to Shiloh. Shiloh was a small town, and therefore, when there was a general meeting of the people to represent themselves before God, they chose Mizpeh for their head-quarters, which was the next adjoining city of note, perhaps because they were not willing to give that trouble to Shiloh which so great an assembly would occasion, it being the resident of the priests that attended the tabernacle. 2. The persons that met were all Israel, from Dan (the city very lately so called, ch. 18:29) in the north to Beersheba in the south, with the land of Gilead (that is, the tribes on the other side Jordan), all as one man, so unanimous were they in their concern for the public good. Here was an assembly of the people of God, not a convocation of the Levites and priests, though a Levite was the person principally concerned in the cause, but an assembly of the people, to whom the Levite referred himself with an Appello populum—I appeal to the people. The people of God were 400,000 footmen that drew the sword, that is, were armed and disciplined, and fit for service, and some of them perhaps such as had known the wars of Canaan, ch. 3:1. In this assembly of all Israel, the chief (or corners) of the people (for rulers are the corner-stones of the people, that keep all together) presented themselves as the representatives of the rest. They rendered themselves at their respective posts, at the head of the thousands and hundreds, the fifties and tens, over which they presided; for so much order and government, we may suppose, at least, they had among them, though they had no general or commander-in-chief. So that here was, (1.) A general congress of the states for counsel. The chief of the people presented themselves, to lead and direct in this affair. (2.) A general rendezvous of the militia for action, all that drew sword and were men of war (v. 17), not hirelings nor pressed men, but the best freeholders, that went at their own charge. Israel were above 600,000 when they came into Canaan, and we have reason to think they were at this time much increased, rather than diminished; but then all between twenty and sixty were military men, now we may suppose more than the one half exempted from bearing arms to cultivate the land; so that these were as the trained bands. The militia of the two tribes and a half were 40,000 (Jos. 4:13), but the tribes were many more.II. Notice given to the tribe of Benjamin of this meeting (v. 3): They heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpeh. Probably they had a legal summons sent them to appear with their brethren, that the cause might be fairly debated, before any resolutions were taken up upon it, and so the mischiefs that followed would have been happily prevented; but the notice they had of this meeting rather hardened and exasperated them than awakened them to think of the things that belonged to their peace and honour.III. A solemn examination of the crime charged upon the men of Gibeah. A very horrid representation of it had been made by the report of the messengers that were sent to call them together, but it was fit it should be more closely enquired into, because such things are often made worse than really they were; a committee therefore was appointed to examine the witnesses (upon oath, no doubt) and to report the matter. It is only the testimony of the Levite himself that is here recorded, but it is probable his servant, and the old man, were examined, and gave in their testimony, for that more than one were examined appears by the original (v. 3), which is, Tell you us; and the law was that none should be put to death, much less so many, upon the testimony of one witness only.

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Translations8 · 5

AMHEVG የእስራኤልም ልጆች ሁሉ ወጡ፥ ማኅበሩም ከዳን እስከ ቤርሳቤህ ድረስ፥ ከገለዓድም አገር ሰዎች ጋር፥ ወደ እግዚአብሔር ወደ ምጽጳ እንደ አንድ ሰው ሆነው ተሰበሰቡ። አማርኛ ENGNIV Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out as one man and assembled before the … English BCV ሽዑ ዅሎም ደቂ እስራኤል ወፁ። እቲ ማሕበርውን ካብ ዳን ክሳዕ ቤርሳቤህን ካብ ምድሪ ገለዓድንውን ከም ሓደ ሰብ ኮይኖም፥ ኣብ ቅድሚ እግዚኣብሄር ኣብ ምፅጳ ተኣከቡ። ትግርኛ GAZBIB Yommus sabni Israa'el hundinuu kutaa biyya Daan isa gara bitaatii hamma Bersheebaatti akkasumas biyya Giil'aad isa gara… Afaan Oromoo BCV GIZ ወወፅኡ ኵሎሙ ደቂቀ እስራኤል ወአንገለጉ ተጋቢኦሙ ኵሎሙ ማኅበሮሙ ከመ አሐዱ ብእሲ እምነ ዳን እስከ ቤርሳቤሕ ወገላአድኒ ውስተ መሴፋ። giz GAZGAZ Yommus sabni Israa'el hundinuu kutaa biyya Daan isa gara bitaatii hamma Bersheebaatti akkasumas biyya Giil'aad isa gara… Afaan Oromoo BCV aksum ሽዑ ዅሎም ደቂ እስራኤል ወፁ። እቲ ማሕበርውን ካብ ዳን ክሳዕ ቤርሳቤህን ካብ ምድሪ ገለዓድንውን ከም ሓደ ሰብ ኮይኖም፥ ኣብ ቅድሚ እግዚኣብሄር ኣብ ምፅጳ ተኣከቡ። ትግርኛ AMHNIV ከዚያም ከዳን እስከ ቤርሳቤህ ያሉ እንዲሁም በገለዓድ ምድር የሚገኙ እስራኤላውያን ሁሉ እንደ አንድ ሰው ሆነው ወጡ፤ በምጽጳም በእግዚአብሔር ፊት ተሰበሰቡ። አማርኛ