2001 Translation - An American English Bible

 1Then the whole gathering of the children of Israel (from Dan to BerSabeEh) came to a meeting before Jehovah at MasSepha in the land of Gilead. 2They all stood there before Jehovah as an assembly of the people of God, along with four hundred thousand sword carrying soldiers, 3and the children of BenJamin had heard that everyone had gone there. Then, when everyone was there, they asked, ‘Tell us; Where did this terrible thing happen?’ 4And the Levite (the husband of the woman who was killed) said, ‘My concubine and I had gone into BabaAh of BenJamin to spend the night. 5Then the men there came against me and surrounded the house at night, and they wanted to kill me. But they abused and raped my concubine instead, until she was dead. 6So, I picked her up and cut her into pieces, then I sent them to all the inheritances of the children of Israel; for these men have done a lewd and disgusting thing in Israel! 7And look, all you children of Israel; Think about what happened and then discuss it among yourselves.’ 8Well, all the people agreed and said, ‘None of us will return to our tents or houses 9until this thing that was done in BabaAh [is settled]. Let’s have a lottery to choose who will go to fight against that city… 10we’ll choose ten men from among every hundred of all the tribes of Israel (a hundred out of every thousand and a thousand out of every ten thousand), then we will gather enough provisions and send them to BabaAh of BenJamin to pay them back for the disgusting things they’ve done in Israel.’ 11So, all the men of Israel agreed, and they prepared to march on the city. 12Then they sent messengers throughout the whole tribe of BenJamin to say: ‘What is this wicked thing that has been done among you? 13Now, surrender the sons of criminals that are in BabaAh, and we will execute them to purge their wickedness from Israel.’ But the children of BenJamin refused to listen to the voices of their brothers, the children of Israel, 14and [men from] all their cities gathered at BabaAh to fight against the rest of Israel. 15The children of BenJamin sent twenty-three thousand soldiers, along with seven hundred of the best men from BabaAh, all of whom were capable of fighting with both hands… 16they could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. 17Now, the army of Israel (other than those of BenJamin) numbered four hundred thousand men of war. 18But [before they went to battle], they went to BethEl to ask God, ‘Who must lead us in the fight against the children of BenJamin?’ And Jehovah replied, ‘Judah must go first and serve as your leader.’ 19Then the next morning, the children of Israel went and camped around BabaAh, 20and the battle began. 21Well, the sons of BenJamin came out from BabaAh in an attack and cut down twenty-two thousand men of Israel. 22So the men of Israel sent for reinforcements and got ready to fight in the same place where they had fought on the previous day. 23[But first], they went and spent the day crying before Jehovah, and in the evening they asked Him, ‘Should we go to fight against our brothers the children of BenJamin again?’ And Jehovah said, ‘Go and fight them.’ 24So the children of Israel advanced against the children of BenJamin on the second day. 25And the children of BenJamin came out of BabaAh to meet them and killed eighteen thousand more of their soldiers. 26Then all the children of Israel (the people and their troops) went to BethEl and sat there crying before Jehovah, and they fasted all that day until the evening. Then they offered whole burnt offerings and perfect sacrifices to Jehovah. 27Well, back then, the [Sacred Chest] of Jehovah God was there [in BethEl]. 28And Phineas (the son of EliEzer and grandson of Aaron) would go and stand before it whenever the children of Israel wanted to ask Jehovah for anything. So, again they asked: ‘Must we go again to fight with our brothers, the sons of BenJamin?’ And Jehovah replied, ‘If you go there in the morning, I will give them into your hands.’ 29Then the children of Israel [went back] and encircled BabaAh, [but this time] they set up an ambush. 30So when the children of Israel went to fight the children of BenJamin on the third day, they prepared for an attack against BabaAh as they had done before. 31And after the children of BenJamin came out to meet them and started cutting them down between the roads that lead to BethEl and BabaAh (after they had killed about thirty men), everyone had been drawn outside the city. 32For the children of BenJamin said, ‘They’re falling before us as they did before.’ But then the children of Israel said; ‘Now let’s retreat and we’ll draw them out of the city and into the roads.’ And that’s what they did. And that’s when all the men who were hiding 33got up out and engaged them at Baal Thamar, and Israel’s reinforcements also came from MaraAgabe. 34So, ten thousand of Israel’s best men attacked BabaAh. And although [BenJamin’s] troops fought back fiercely, they didn’t know that they were doomed. 35So, Jehovah allowed the children of Israel to cut down BenJamin that day. And all together, the children of Israel destroyed twenty-five thousand of BenJamin’s soldiers. 36For, when they realized that the children of BenJamin were losing, the men of Israel turned back and attacked, because they trusted in the ambush that they had prepared against BabaAh. 37[The plan was that] when they pulled back, those who were hiding were to get up and attack BabaAh and cut [everyone in] the city down with swords. 38Well, the children of Israel had arranged for a battle signal from those who had been hiding. For when they captured the city, they were to send up a smoke signal. 39And when the children of Israel saw that they had taken BabaAh, that’s when they turned and attacked. For by then, the children of BenJamin had started killing the wounded among the men of Israel (about thirty of them), and they were saying, ‘Surely they’re going to fall again as they did in the first [two] battles.’ 40But then the [smoke] signal started to arise, and it kept growing into a huge column of smoke rising into the sky. And when the men of BenJamin looked behind them, they saw that the city was being destroyed. 41So when the men of Israel turned back and attacked, the men of BenJamin started running, because they saw that something bad had happened. 42Then they retreated all the way into the desert before of the children of Israel, but they were soon overtaken, and even people from the [surrounding] cities came to fight them… 43they chased the men of BenJamin from Nua almost to BabaAh in the east. 44And eighteen thousand mighty men of BenJamin fell there. 45Well, the rest [of BenJamin’s army] then turned and ran through the desert to the rock of RemMon, where the children of Israel picked off five thousand of them; and then they chased the remaining ones as far as GeDan, where they cut down two thousand men. 46So, BenJamin lost twenty-five thousand of their finest soldiers, 47and the rest (six hundred of them) turned and ran through the desert to the rock of RemMon, where they hid out for four months. 48Meanwhile, the children of Israel returned to the territory of BenJamin and cut down [everyone] in their cities (around MethLa), including their cattle, and they burned all the cities and everything they found there in a fire.


Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
 1   Judg 20:1 The Levite in a general assembly declares his wrong.
Judg 20:8 The decree of the assembly.
Judg 20:12 The Benjamites, being cited, make head against the Israelites.
Judg 20:18 The Israelites in two battles lose forty thousand.
Judg 20:26 They destroy by a stratagem all the Benjamites, except six hundred.
Then all.
Judg 20:2 Judg 20:8 Judg 20:11 Judg 21:5 Deut 13:12 - Deut 13:18 Josh 22:12
as one man.
1Sam 11:7 1Sam 11:8 2Sam 19:14 Ezra 3:1 Neh 8:1
from Dan.
Judg 18:29 1Sam 3:20 2Sam 3:10 2Sam 24:2 1Chr 21:2 2Chr 30:5
with the.
Num 32:1 Num 32:40 Josh 17:1 2Sam 2:9
unto the.
Judg 20:18 Judg 20:26 Judg 11:11
in Mizpeh.
Judg 10:17 Judg 11:11 Josh 15:38 Josh 18:26 1Sam 7:5 1Sam 7:6 1Sam 10:17 2Kgs 25:23
It does not appear that the Israelites on this occasion, 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. 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 present 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 residence of the priests that attended the tabernacle.


 2   drew sword.
Judg 20:15 Judg 20:17 Judg 8:10 2Sam 24:9 2Kgs 3:26

 3   the children of Benjamin.
Pro 22:3 Matt 5:25 Luke 12:58 Luke 12:59 Luke 14:31 Luke 14:32
how was.
Judg 19:22 - Judg 19:27

 4   the Levite. Heb. the man the Levite. I came.
Judg 19:15 - Judg 19:28

 5   And the men.
Judg 19:22
beset.
Gen 19:4 - Gen 19:8
and my concubine.
Judg 19:25 Judg 19:26
forced. Heb. humbled.
Deut 22:24 Ezek 22:10 Ezek 22:11

 6   cut her.
Judg 19:29
folly in Israel.
Judg 20:10 Judg 19:23 Gen 34:7 Josh 7:15 2Sam 13:12 2Sam 13:13

 7   ye are all.
Exod 19:5 Exod 19:6 Deut 4:6 Deut 14:1 Deut 14:2 1Cor 5:1 1Cor 5:6 1Cor 5:10 - 1Cor 5:12
give here.
Judg 19:30 Josh 9:14 Pro 20:18 Pro 24:6 Jas 1:5

 8   as one man.
Judg 20:1 Judg 20:11
We will not.
Judg 21:1 Judg 21:5 Pro 21:3 Eccl 9:10

 9   by lot against it.
Josh 14:2 1Sam 14:41 1Sam 14:42 1Chr 24:5 Neh 11:1 Pro 16:33 Jonah 1:7 Acts 1:26

 10   ten thousand: or, myriad,
Gen 24:60

 11   Knit together as one man. Heb. fellows.


 12   sent men.
Deut 13:14 Deut 20:10 Josh 22:13 - Josh 22:16 Matt 18:15 - Matt 18:18 Rom 12:18

 13   deliver.
2Sam 20:21 2Sam 20:22
children of Belial.
Judg 19:22 Deut 13:13 1Sam 30:22 2Sam 20:1 2Sam 23:6 1Kgs 21:13 2Chr 13:7
put away.
Deut 17:7 Deut 17:12 Deut 19:19 Deut 21:21 Deut 22:21 Deut 22:24 Deut 24:7 Eccl 11:10
would not.
1Sam 2:25 2Chr 25:16 2Chr 25:20 Pro 29:1 Hos 9:9 Hos 10:9 Rom 1:32 Rev 18:4 Rev 18:5
The conduct of the Israelites was very equitable in this demand; but perhaps the rulers or elders of Gibeah ought previously to have been applied to, to deliver up the criminals to justice. However, the refusal of the Benjamites, and their protection of those who had committed this horrible wickedness, because they were of their own tribe, prove them to have been deeply corrupted, and (all their advantages considered) as ripe for divine vengeance as the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah had been. Confiding in their own valour and military skill, they seen to have first prepared for battle in this unequal contest with such superior numbers.


 14   Num 20:20 Num 21:23 2Chr 13:13 Job 15:25 Job 15:26

 15   twenty.
Judg 20:25 Judg 20:35 Judg 20:46 Judg 20:47 Num 26:41

 16   left-handed. Itter yad yemeeno, "obstructed in his right hand;" so the Chaldee Targum, gemid beedaih deyammeena, contracted or impeded in his right hand." Le Clerc observes, that the 700 men left-handed seem therefore to have been made slingers, because they could not use the right hand, which is employed in managing heavier arms; and they could discharge the stones from the sling in a direction against which their opponents were not upon their guard, and thus do the greater execution.
Judg 3:15 1Chr 12:2
sling stones. The sling was a very ancient warlike instrument; and, in the hands of those who were skilled in the use of it, produced astonishing effects. The inhabitants of the islands of Baleares, now Majorca and Minorca, were the most celebrated slingers of antiquity. They did not permit their children to break their fast, till they had struck down the bread they had to eat from the top of a pole, or some distant eminence. Vegetius tells us, that slingers could in general hit the mark at 600 feet distance.
1Sam 17:40 1Sam 17:49 1Sam 17:50 1Sam 25:29 2Chr 26:14

 17   four hundred.
Judg 20:2 Num 1:46 Num 26:51 1Sam 11:8 1Sam 15:4 1Chr 21:5 2Chr 17:14 - 2Chr 17:18

 18   house of.
Judg 18:31 Judg 19:18 Josh 18:1 Joel 1:14
asked.
Judg 20:7 Judg 20:23 Judg 20:26 Judg 20:27 Judg 1:1 Num 27:5 Num 27:21 Josh 9:14
Judah.
Judg 1:1 Judg 1:2 Gen 49:8 - Gen 49:10

 19   rose up.
Josh 3:1 Josh 6:12 Josh 7:16

 20   Judg 20:20

 21   the children.
Gen 49:27 Hos 10:9
destroyed.
Deut 23:9 2Chr 28:10 Ps 33:16 Ps 73:18 Ps 73:19 Ps 77:19 Eccl 9:1 - Eccl 9:3 Jer 12:1

 22   encouraged.
Judg 20:15 Judg 20:17 1Sam 30:6 2Sam 11:25 Ps 64:5

 23   wept.
Judg 20:26 Judg 20:27 Ps 78:34 - Ps 78:36 Hos 5:15
And the. It seems most evident that the Israelites did not seek the protection of God. When they "went to the house of God," (ver. 18, Judg 20:18) it was not to enquire concerning the expediency of the war, nor of its success, but which of the tribes should begin the attack: and here the question is, "Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?" Having so much right on their side, they had no doubt of the justice of their cause, and the propriety of their conduct; and having such a superiority of numbers, they had no doubt of success. But God humbled them, and delivered them into the hands of their enemies; and shewed them that the race was not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.


 24   Judg 20:24

 25   destroyed.
Judg 20:21 Gen 18:25 Job 9:12 Job 9:13 Ps 97:2 Rom 2:5 Rom 3:5 Rom 11:33

 26   all the children.
Judg 20:18 Judg 20:23
wept.
1Sam 7:6 2Chr 20:3 Ezra 8:21 Ezra 9:4 Ezra 9:5 Joel 1:14 Joel 2:12 - Joel 2:18 Jonah 3:5 - Jonah 3:10

 27   enquired.
Judg 20:18 Judg 20:23 Num 27:21
the ark.
Josh 18:1 1Sam 4:3 1Sam 4:4 Ps 78:60 Ps 78:61 Jer 7:12
The loss of two battles at length brought this stiff-necked people to enquire of the Lord; for all the company at this time met at Shiloh, and kept a day of fasting and prayer with great earnestness and solemnity. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear."
Isa 59:1

 28   Phinehas. It is evident, from this mention of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, that these transactions must have taken place not long after the death of Joshua.
Num 25:7 - Num 25:13 Josh 22:13 Josh 22:30 - Josh 22:32 Josh 24:33
stood.
Deut 10:8 Deut 18:5
Shall I yet.
Josh 7:7 1Sam 14:37 1Sam 23:4 - 1Sam 23:12 1Sam 30:8 2Sam 5:19 - 2Sam 5:24 2Sam 6:3 2Sam 6:7 - 2Sam 6:12 Pro 3:5 Pro 3:6 Jer 10:23
Go up.
Judg 1:2 Judg 7:9 2Chr 20:17

 29   Israel. Though God had promised them success, they knew they could expect it only by the use of proper means. Hence they used all prudent precaution, and employed all their military skill.
liers.
Judg 20:34 Josh 8:4 2Sam 5:23

 30   Judg 20:30

 31   drawn.
Josh 8:14 - Josh 8:16
smite of the people, and kill, as at. Heb. smite of thepeople wounded as at, etc. the house of God. or, Beth-el. Gibeah.
Judg 19:13 Judg 19:14 Isa 10:29
thirty.
Josh 7:5

 32   Let us flee. This was done, not only because they had placed an ambuscade behind Gibeah, which was to enter and burn the city as soon as the Benjamites left it; but it would seem, that the slingers, by being within the city and its fortifications, had great advantage over the Israelites by their slings, when they could not come among them with their swords, unless they got them in the plain country.
Josh 8:15 Josh 8:16

 33   rose up.
Josh 8:18 - Josh 8:22
put themselves. There appear to have been three divisions of the Israelitish army: one at Baal-tamar, (which was situated, says Eusebius, near Gibeah;) a second behind the city in ambush; and a third, who skirmished with the Benjamites before Gibeah.


 34   ten thousand.
Judg 20:29
knew not.
Josh 8:14 Job 21:13 Pro 4:19 Pro 29:6 Eccl 8:11 Eccl 8:12 Eccl 9:12 Isa 3:10 Isa 3:11 Isa 47:11 Matt 24:44 Luke 21:34 Luke 21:34 1Thess 5:3

 35   twenty.
Judg 20:15 Judg 20:44 - Judg 20:46 Job 20:5
Though the numbers of the Israelites were immensely superior to those of Benjamin, though the stratagem was well laid and ingeniously executed, and the battle bravely fought, yet the inspired historian ascribes the victory to the hand of the Lord, as entirely as if he had smitten the Benjamites by a miracle.


 36   for the man.
Josh 8:15 - Josh 8:29

 37   the liers in wait hasted.
Josh 8:19
drew themselves along. or, made a long sound with thetrumpets.
Exod 19:13 Josh 6:5

 38   Now there. From this verse to the end of the chapter, we have the details of the same operations which are mentioned, in a general way, in the preceding verses of this chapter.
sign. or, time.
Gen 17:21 2Kgs 4:16
*marg:
Judg 20:38
and. Heb. with. flame. Heb. elevation.


 39   And when.
Judg 20:31
smite and kill. Heb. smite the wounded.


 40   a pillar.
Gen 19:28 Song 3:6 Joel 2:30 Rev 19:3
looked.
Josh 8:20
flame. Heb. whole consumption.


 41   were amazed.
Exod 15:9 Exod 15:10 Isa 13:8 Isa 13:9 Isa 33:14 Luke 17:27 Luke 17:28 Luke 21:26 1Thess 5:3 2Pet 2:12 Rev 6:15 - Rev 6:17 Rev 18:8 - Rev 18:10
was come upon them. Heb. touched them.


 42   the battle.
Lam 1:3 Hos 9:9 Hos 10:9

 43   inclosed.
Josh 8:20 - Josh 8:22
with ease. or, from Menuchah, etc. over against. Heb. untoover against.


 44   Judg 20:44

 45   Rimmon.
Josh 15:32 1Chr 6:77 Zech 14:10

 46   twenty.
Judg 20:15 Judg 20:35

 47   six hundred.
Judg 21:13 Ps 103:9 Ps 103:10 Isa 1:9 Jer 14:7 Lam 3:32 Hab 3:2
rock of Rimmon. The rock Rimmon was doubtless a strong place; but it is uncertain where situated. It is probable however, that it was near, and took its name from, the village of Remmon, mentioned by Eusebius, fifteen miles north from Jerusalem. It appears that rocks are still resorted to in the East, as places of security; and some of them are even capable of sustaining a siege. De La Roque says, that "The Grand Seignior, wishing to seize the person of the emir (Fakr-eddin, prince of the Druses,) gave orders to the pacha to take him prisoner: he accordingly came in search of him, with a new army, in the district of Chouf, which is part of mount Lebanon, wherein is the village of Gesin, and close to it, the rock which served for a retreat to the emir. It is named in Arabic, Magara Gesin, i.e., the cavern of Gessin, by which name it is famous. The pacha pressed the emir so closely, that this unfortunate prince was obliged to shut himself up in the cleft of a great rock, with a small number of his officers. The pacha besieged him there several months; and was going to blow up the rock by a mine, when the emir capitulated."


 48   smote them.
Deut 13:15 - Deut 13:17 2Chr 25:13 2Chr 28:6 - 2Chr 28:9 Pro 18:19
came to hand. Heb. was found. they came to. Heb. werefound.