Judges 20 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Israel’s War with the Benjamites

The War Against the Benjamites

Jdg 20:1So 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.

Jdg 20:2

Jdg 20:2And 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.

Jdg 20:3

Jdg 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?”

Jdg 20:4

Jdg 20:4So 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.

Jdg 20:5

Jdg 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.

Jdg 20:6

Jdg 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.

Jdg 20:7

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

Jdg 20:8

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

Jdg 20:9

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

Jdg 20:10

Jdg 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.”

Jdg 20:11

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

Jdg 20:12

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

Jdg 20:13

Jdg 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.

Jdg 20:14

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

Jdg 20:15

Jdg 20:15And 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.

Jdg 20:16

Jdg 20:16Among 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.

Jdg 20:17

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

Jdg 20:18

Jdg 20:18Then 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!”

Jdg 20:19

Jdg 20:19So the children of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.

Jdg 20:20

Jdg 20:20And 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.

Jdg 20:21

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

Jdg 20:22

Jdg 20:22And 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.

Jdg 20:23

Jdg 20:23Then 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.”

Jdg 20:24

Jdg 20:24So the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second day.

Jdg 20:25

Jdg 20:25And 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.

Jdg 20:26

Jdg 20:26Then 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.

Jdg 20:27

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

Jdg 20:28

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

Jdg 20:29

Jdg 20:29Then Israel set men in ambush all around Gibeah.

Jdg 20:30

Jdg 20:30And 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.

Jdg 20:31

Jdg 20:31So 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.

Jdg 20:32

Jdg 20:32And 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.”

Jdg 20:33

Jdg 20:33So 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.

Jdg 20:34

Jdg 20:34And 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.

Jdg 20:35

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

Jdg 20:36

Jdg 20:36So 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.

Jdg 20:37

Jdg 20:37And 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.

Jdg 20:38

Jdg 20:38Now 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,

Jdg 20:39

Jdg 20:39whereupon 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.”

Jdg 20:40

Jdg 20:40But 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.

Jdg 20:41

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

Jdg 20:42

Jdg 20:42Therefore 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.

Jdg 20:43

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

Jdg 20:44

Jdg 20:44And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor.

Jdg 20:45

Jdg 20:45Then 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.

Jdg 20:46

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

Jdg 20:47

Jdg 20:47But 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.

Jdg 20:48

Jdg 20:48And 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

(20:13)

Literally sons of Belial

Or Bethel

Or Bethel

Literally they

Septuagint reads the rest.

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