Judges 20

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1Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out as one man and assembled before the Lord in Mizpah.

2The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand soldiers armed with swords.

3(The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said, “Tell us how this awful thing happened.”

4So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, “I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night.

5During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died.

6I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one piece to each region of Israel's inheritance, because they committed this lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.

7Now, all you Israelites, speak up and give your verdict.”

8All the people rose as one man, saying, “None of us will go home. No, not one of us will return to his house.

9But now this is what we'll do to Gibeah: We'll go up against it as the lot directs.

10We'll take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thousand, and a thousand from ten thousand, to get provisions for the army. Then, when the army arrives at Gibeah in Benjamin, it can give them what they deserve for all this vileness done in Israel.”

11So all the men of Israel got together and united as one man against the city.

12The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What about this awful crime that was committed among you?

13Now surrender those wicked men of Gibeah so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.” But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites.

14From their towns they came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites.

15At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred chosen men from those living in Gibeah.

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

17Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fighting men.

18The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, “Who of us shall go first to fight against the Benjamites?” The Lord replied, “Judah shall go first.”

19The next morning the Israelites got up and pitched camp near Gibeah.

20The men of Israel went out to fight the Benjamites and took up battle positions against them at Gibeah.

21The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that day.

22But the men of Israel encouraged one another and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day.

23The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and they inquired of the Lord. They said, “Shall we go up again to battle against the Benjamites, our brothers?” The Lord answered, “Go up against them.”

24Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day.

25This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites, all of them armed with swords.

26Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord.

27And the Israelites inquired of the Lord. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there,

28with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, ministering before it.) They asked, “Shall we go up again to battle with Benjamin our brother, or not?” The Lord responded, “Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands.”

29Then Israel set an ambush around Gibeah.

30They went up against the Benjamites on the third day and took up positions against Gibeah as they had done before.

31The Benjamites came out to meet them and were drawn away from the city. They began to inflict casualties on the Israelites as before, so that about thirty men fell in the open field and on the roads–the one leading to Bethel and the other to Gibeah.

32While the Benjamites were saying, “We are defeating them as before,” the Israelites were saying, “Let's retreat and draw them away from the city to the roads.”

33All the men of Israel moved from their places and took up positions at Baal Tamar, and the Israelite ambush charged out of its place on the west of Gibeah.

34Then ten thousand of Israel's finest men made a frontal attack on Gibeah. The fighting was so heavy that the Benjamites did not realize how near disaster was.

35The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and on that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords.

36Then the Benjamites saw that they were beaten. Now the men of Israel had given way before Benjamin, because they relied on the ambush they had set near Gibeah.

37The men who had been in ambush made a sudden dash into Gibeah, spread out and put the whole city to the sword.

38The men of Israel had arranged with the ambush that they should send up a great cloud of smoke from the city,

39and then the men of Israel would turn in the battle. The Benjamites had begun to inflict casualties on the men of Israel (about thirty), and they said, “We are defeating them as in the first battle.”

40But when the column of smoke began to rise from the city, the Benjamites turned and saw the smoke of the whole city going up into the sky.

41Then the men of Israel turned on them, and the men of Benjamin were terrified, because they realized that disaster had come upon them.

42So they fled before the Israelites in the direction of the desert, but they could not escape the battle. And the men of Israel who came out of the towns cut them down there.

43They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them and easily overran them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east.

44Eighteen thousand Benjamites fell, all of them valiant fighters.

45As they turned and fled toward the desert to the rock of Rimmon, the Israelites cut down five thousand men along the roads. They kept pressing after the Benjamites as far as Gidom and struck down two thousand more.

46On that day twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell, all of them valiant fighters.

47But six hundred men turned and fled into the desert to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months.

48The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across 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 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 SWAHSUV Ndipo wana wa Israeli walipotoka; na mkutano ukakutanika kama mtu mmoja, kutoka Dani hata Beersheba, pamoja na nchi ya … Kiswahili