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Judges 20 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

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Israel’s War with the Benjamites
The War Against the Benjamites

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:1

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:1 - So all the children of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:2

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:2 - And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers who drew the sword.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:3

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:3 - (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the children of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wicked deed happen?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:4

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:4 - So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “My concubine and I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:5

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:5 - “And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:6

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:6 - “So I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they committed lewdness and outrage in Israel.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:7

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:7 - “Look! All of you are children of Israel; give your advice and counsel here and now!”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:8

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:8 - So all the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house;

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:9

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:9 - “but now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up against it by lot.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:10

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:10 - “We will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to make provisions for the people, that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin, they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:11

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:11 - So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:12

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:12 - Then the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has occurred among you?

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:13

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:13 - “Now therefore, deliver up the men, the perverted men[fn] who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove the evil from Israel!” But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:14

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:14 - Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to Gibeah, to go to battle against the children of Israel.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:15

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:15 - And from their cities at that time the children of Benjamin numbered twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered seven hundred select men.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:16

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:16 - Among all this people were seven hundred select men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:17

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:17 - Now besides Benjamin, the men of Israel numbered four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of war.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:18

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:18 - Then the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God[fn] to inquire of God. They said, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?” The LORD said, “Judah first!”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:19

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:19 - So the children of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:20

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:20 - And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel put themselves in battle array to fight against them at Gibeah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:21

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:21 - Then the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day cut down to the ground twenty-two thousand men of the Israelites.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:22

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:22 - And the people, that is, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves and again formed the battle line at the place where they had put themselves in array on the first day.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:23

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:23 - Then the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, “Shall I again draw near for battle against the children of my brother Benjamin?” And the LORD said, “Go up against him.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:24

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:24 - So the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second day.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:25

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:25 - And Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah on the second day, and cut down to the ground eighteen thousand more of the children of Israel; all these drew the sword.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:26

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:26 - Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, went up and came to the house of God[fn] and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:27

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:27 - So the children of Israel inquired of the LORD (the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:28

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:28 - and 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 my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?” And the LORD said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:29

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:29 - Then Israel set men in ambush all around Gibeah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:30

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:30 - And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in battle array against Gibeah as at the other times.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:31

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:31 - So the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city. They began to strike down and kill some of the people, as at the other times, in the highways (one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah) and in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:32

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:32 - And the children of Benjamin said, “They are defeated before us, as at first.” But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:33

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:33 - So all the men of Israel rose from their place and put themselves in battle array at Baal Tamar. Then Israel’s men in ambush burst forth from their position in the plain of Geba.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:34

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:34 - And ten thousand select men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjamites[fn] did not know that disaster was upon them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:35

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:35 - The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel. And the children of Israel destroyed that day twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites; all these drew the sword.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:36

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:36 - So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. The men of Israel had given ground to the Benjamites, because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:37

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:37 - And the men in ambush quickly rushed upon Gibeah; the men in ambush spread out and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:38

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:38 - Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise up from the city,

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:39

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:39 - whereupon the men of Israel would turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about thirty of the men of Israel. For they said, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:40

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:40 - But when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in smoke to heaven.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:41

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:41 - And when the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin panicked, for they saw that disaster had come upon them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:42

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:42 - Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them, and whoever came out of the cities they destroyed in their midst.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:43

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:43 - They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily trampled them down as far as the front of Gibeah toward the east.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:44

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:44 - And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:45

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:45 - Then they[fn] turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon; and they cut down five thousand of them on the highways. Then they pursued them relentlessly up to Gidom, and killed two thousand of them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:46

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:46 - So all who fell of Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all these were men of valor.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:47

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:47 - But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 20:48

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 20:48 - And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin, and struck them down with the edge of the sword—from every city, men and beasts, all who were found. They also set fire to all the cities they came to.
See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NKJV Footnotes
Literally sons of Belial
Or Bethel
Or Bethel
Literally they
Septuagint reads the rest.
NKJV

New King James Version, © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

The text of the New King James Version (NKJV) appearing on or deriving from this or any other web page is for personal use only. Any other use of the NKJV must be in conformity with the Quotation Policy for the New King James Version. For more information about the New King James Version, the Quotation Policy, and for inquiries about permission to use the New King James Version, go to Thomas Nelson, Inc..

For more information on this translation, see the NKJV Preface.

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Judges Chapter 20 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New Living Translation New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras