Judges 20

1 And all the sons of Israel go out, and the congregation is assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beer-Sheba, and the land of Gilead, to YHWH, at Mizpeh.

Then all the people of Israel came out as one man, from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead also, and they assembled together before Yahweh at Mizpah.

2 And the chiefs of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, station themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen drawing sword.

The leaders of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, took their places in the assembly of the people of God—400,000 men on foot, who were ready to fight with the sword.

3 And the sons of Benjamin hear that the sons of Israel have gone up to Mizpeh. And the sons of Israel say, “Speak! How has this evil been?”

Now the people of Benjamin heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah. The people of Israel said, “Tell us how this wicked thing happened.”

4 And the man, the Levite, husband of the woman who has been murdered, answers and says, “My concubine and I went into Gibeah, which [is] of Benjamin, to lodge;

The Levite, the husband of the woman who had been murdered, answered, “I came to Gibeah in the territory that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night.

5 and the masters of Gibeah rise against me—and they go around the house against me by night—they thought to slay me, and they have humbled my concubine, and she dies;

During the night, the leaders of Gibeah attacked me, surrounding the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died.

6 and I lay hold on my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and send her into all the country of the inheritance of Israel; for they have done wickedness and folly in Israel;

I took my concubine and cut her body into pieces, and sent them into each region of Israel's inheritance, because they have committed such wickedness and outrage in Israel.

7 behold, you [are] all sons of Israel; give for yourselves a word and counsel here.”

Now, all you Israelites, give your advice and counsel here.”

8 And all the people rise as one man, saying, “None of us goes to his tent, and none of us turns aside to his house;

All the people arose together as one man, and they said, “None of us will go to his tent, and none of us will return to his house!

9 and now, this [is] the thing which we do to Gibeah: [we go up] against it by lot!

But now this is what we must do to Gibeah: We will attack it as the lot directs us.

10 And we have taken ten men of one hundred, of all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of a myriad, to receive provision for the people, to do, at their coming to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly which it has done in Israel.”

We will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of a thousand, and one thousand of ten thousand, to get provisions for these people, so that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin, they may punish them for the wickedness they committed in Israel.”

11 And every man of Israel is gathered to the city, as one man—companions.

So all the soldiers of Israel assembled against the city, as one man.

12 And the tribes of Israel send men among all the tribes of Benjamin, saying, “What [is] this evil which has been among you?

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

13 And now, give up the men—sons of worthlessness—which [are] in Gibeah, and we put them to death, and we put away evil from Israel.” And [the sons of] Benjamin have not been willing to listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel;

Therefore, give us those wicked men of Gibeah, so we may put them to death, and so we will completely remove this evil from Israel.” But the Benjamites would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the people of Israel.

14 and the sons of Benjamin are gathered out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle with the sons of Israel.

Then the people of Benjamin came together out of the cities to Gibeah to get ready to fight against the people of Israel.

15 And the sons of Benjamin number themselves on that day; out of the cities [are] twenty-six thousand men drawing sword, apart from the inhabitants of Gibeah, [who] numbered themselves, seven hundred chosen men;

The people of Benjamin brought together from their cities to fight on that day twenty-six thousand soldiers who were trained to fight with the sword. In addition, there were seven hundred of their chosen men from the inhabitants of Gibeah.

16 among all this people [are] seven hundred chosen men, their right hand bound, each of these slinging with a stone at the hair, and he does not err.

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

17 And the men of Israel numbered themselves, apart from Benjamin, four hundred thousand men, drawing sword, each of these a man of war.

The people of Israel, not counting the number from Benjamin, numbered 400,000 men, who were trained to fight with the sword. All of these were men of war.

18 And they rise and go up to Beth-El, and ask of God, and the sons of Israel say, “Who goes up for us at the commencement to battle with the sons of Benjamin?” And YHWH says, “Judah—at the commencement.”

The people of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and asked for advice from God. They asked, “Who first will attack the people of Benjamin for us?” Yahweh said, “Judah will attack first.”

19 And the sons of Israel rise in the morning, and encamp against Gibeah,

The people of Israel got up in the morning and they moved their camp near Gibeah.

20 and the men of Israel go out to battle with Benjamin, and the men of Israel set themselves in array [for] battle with them, against Gibeah,

The people of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin. They set up their battle positions against them at Gibeah.

21 and the sons of Benjamin come out from Gibeah, and destroy twenty-two thousand men in Israel on that day—to the earth.

The people of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and they killed twenty-two thousand men of the army of Israel on that day.

22 And the people, the men of Israel, strengthen themselves, and add to set in array [for] battle in the place where they arranged themselves on the first day.

But the people of Israel strengthened themselves and they formed the battle line in the same place where they had taken positions on the first day.

23 And the sons of Israel go up and weep before YHWH until the evening, and ask of YHWH, saying, “Do I add to draw near to battle with the sons of my brother Benjamin?” And YHWH says, “Go up against him.”

Then the people of Israel went up and they wept before Yahweh until evening, and they sought direction from Yahweh. They said, “Should we go again to fight against our brothers, the people of Benjamin?” Yahweh said, “Attack them!”

24 And the sons of Israel draw near to the sons of Benjamin on the second day,

So the people of Israel went against the soldiers of Benjamin the second day.

25 and Benjamin comes out to meet them from Gibeah on the second day, and destroy eighteen thousand men among the sons of Israel again—to the earth; all these are drawing sword.

On the second day, Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah and they killed eighteen thousand men from the people of Israel. All were men who trained to fight with the sword.

26 And all the sons of Israel go up, even all the people, and come to Beth-El, and weep, and sit there before YHWH, and fast on that day until the evening, and cause burnt-offerings and peace-offerings to ascend before YHWH.

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

27 And the sons of Israel ask of YHWH—and the Ark of the Covenant of God [is] there in those days,

The people of Israel asked Yahweh—for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

28 and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, is standing before it in those days, saying, “Do I add to go out to battle again with the sons of my brother Benjamin, or do I cease?” And YHWH says, “Go up, for tomorrow I give him into your hand.”

and Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron, was serving before the ark in those days—”Should we go out to battle once more against the people of Benjamin, our brothers, or stop?” Yahweh said, “Attack, for tomorrow I will help you defeat them.”

29 And Israel sets ones lying in wait against Gibeah, all around,

So Israel set men in secret places around Gibeah.

30 and the sons of Israel go up against the sons of Benjamin on the third day, and arrange themselves against Gibeah, as time by time.

The people of Israel fought against the people of Benjamin for the third day, and they formed their battle lines against Gibeah as they had done before.

31 And the sons of Benjamin come out to meet the people; they have been drawn away out of the city, and begin to strike [some] of the people—wounded as time by time—in the highways (of which one is going up to Beth-El, and the other to Gibeah in the field), [are] about thirty men of Israel.

The people of Benjamin went and fought against the people, and they were drawn away from the city. They began to kill some of the people. There were about thirty men of Israel who died in the fields and on the roads. One of the roads went up to Bethel, and the other went to Gibeah.

32 And the sons of Benjamin say, “They are struck before us as at the beginning”; but the sons of Israel said, “Let us flee, and draw them away out of the city, to the highways.”

Then the people of Benjamin said, “They are defeated and they are running away from us, just as at first.” But the soldiers of Israel said, “Let us run back and draw them away from the city to the roads.”

33 And all the men of Israel have risen from their place, and arrange themselves at Ba‘al-Tamar, and the ambush of Israel is coming forth out of its place, out of the meadow of Gibeah.

All the people of Israel rose up out of their places and formed themselves into lines for battle at Baal Tamar. Then the soldiers of Israel who had been hiding in secret places ran out from their places from Maareh Gibeah.

34 And they come in from the front against Gibeah—ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel—and the battle [is] grievous, and they have not known that the calamity is reaching toward them.

There came out against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the fighting was fierce, but the Benjamites did not know that disaster was close to them.

35 And YHWH strikes Benjamin before Israel, and the sons of Israel destroy in Benjamin, on that day, twenty-five thousand and one hundred men; all these [are] drawing sword.

Yahweh defeated Benjamin before Israel. On that day, the soldiers of Israel killed 25,100 men of Benjamin. All these who died were those who had been trained to fight with the sword.

36 And the sons of Benjamin see that they have been struck—and the men of Israel give place to Benjamin, for they have trusted in the ambush which they had set against Gibeah,

So the soldiers of Benjamin saw they were defeated. The men of Israel had given ground to Benjamin, because they were counting on the men they had placed in hidden positions outside Gibeah.

37 and the ambush has hurried, and pushes against Gibeah, and the ambush draws itself out, and strikes the whole of the city by the mouth of the sword.

Then the men who were hiding got up and hurried and they rushed into Gibeah, and they struck all the city with the edge of the sword.

38 And the appointed sign of the men of Israel with the ambush was their causing a great volume of smoke to go up from the city.

The arranged signal between the soldiers of Israel and the men hiding in secret would be that a great cloud of smoke would rise up out of the city.

39 And the men of Israel turn in battle, and Benjamin has begun to strike the wounded among the men of Israel, about thirty men, for they said, “Surely they are utterly struck before us, as [at] the first battle”;

When the signal was sent the soldiers of Israel would turn from the battle. Now Benjamin began to attack and they killed about thirty men of Israel, and they said, “It is sure that they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.”

40 but the volume has begun to go up from the city—a pillar of smoke—and Benjamin turns behind, and behold, the perfection of the city has gone up toward the heavens.

But when a pillar of smoke began to rise up out of the city, the Benjamites turned and saw the smoke rising to the sky from the whole city.

41 And the men of Israel have turned, and the men of Benjamin are troubled, for they have seen that the calamity has struck against them—

Then the people of Israel turned against them. The men of Benjamin were terrified, for they saw that disaster had come on them.

42 and they turn before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness, and the battle has followed them; and those who [are] from the cities are destroying them in their midst;

So they ran away from the people of Israel, escaping on the way to the wilderness. But the fighting overtook them. The soldiers of Israel came out of the cities and killed them where they stood.

43 they have surrounded the Benjamites—they have pursued them—they have trodden them down with ease as far as the front of Gibeah, at the sun-rising.

They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them and trampled them down at Nohah, all the way to the east side of Gibeah.

44 And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fall—all these [were] men of valor;

From the tribe of Benjamin, eighteen thousand people died, all of them men who were distinguished in battle.

45 and they turn and flee toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon; and they glean five thousand of their men in the highways, and follow after them to Gidom, and strike two thousand [more] of their men.

They turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon. The Israelites killed five thousand more of them along the roads. They kept going after them, following them closely all the way to Gidom, and there they killed two thousand more.

46 And all those falling of Benjamin are twenty-five thousand men drawing sword, on that day—all these [were] men of valor;

All the soldiers of Benjamin who fell that day were twenty-five thousand—men who were trained to fight with the sword; all of them were distinguished in battle.

47 but six hundred men turn and flee into the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, and they dwell in the rock of Rimmon four months.

But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness, toward the rock of Rimmon. For four months they stayed at the rock of Rimmon.

48 And the men of Israel have turned back to the sons of Benjamin, and strike them by the mouth of the sword out of the city—men even to livestock, even to all that is found; they have also sent all the cities which are found into the fire.

The soldiers of Israel turned back against the people of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, the city, including the animals and everything that they found. They also burned down every town in their path.