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20:1  So all the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] from Dan to Beersheba [C from the farthest north to the farthest south], including the land of Gilead [C on the east side of the Jordan River], ·joined together [assembled] before the Lord in the city of Mizpah.
20:2  The ·leaders [L cornerstones; Is. 19:13] of all the tribes of Israel took their places in the ·meeting [assembly] of the people of God. There were 400,000 soldiers ·with swords [L who drew the sword].
20:3  (The ·people [L sons; descendants] of Benjamin heard that the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] said to the Levite, “Tell us how this evil thing happened.”
20:4  So the husband of the murdered woman answered, “My ·slave woman [concubine; 8:31] and I came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night.
20:5  During the night the ·men [leaders; lords] of Gibeah came after me. They surrounded the house and wanted to kill me. They ·forced my slave woman to have sexual relations [abused/raped my concubine] and she died.
20:6  I took her and cut her into parts and sent ·one part [L her] to ·each area [every region of the inheritance] of Israel because the people of Benjamin did this ·wicked [lewd; abominable] and ·terrible [outrageous; shameful] thing in Israel.
20:7  Now, all you ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel], speak up. What is your decision?”
20:8  Then all the people stood up at the same time, saying, “None of us will go ·home [L to his tent]. Not one of us will go back to his house!
20:9  Now this is what we will do to Gibeah. We will ·throw lots [L go against it by lot].
20:10  That way we will choose ten men from every hundred men from all the tribes of Israel, and we will choose a hundred men from every thousand, and a thousand men from every ten thousand. These will find ·supplies [provisions; food] for the army. Then the army will go to the city of Gibeah of Benjamin to ·repay [punish] them for the ·terrible [outrageous; shameful] thing they have done in Israel.”
20:11  So all the men of Israel were united and gathered against the city.
20:12  The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin demanding, “What is this ·evil [wicked; terrible] thing ·some of your men have done [that has taken place among you]?
20:13  Hand over the ·wicked [worthless; troublemaking] men in Gibeah so that we can put them to death. We must ·remove [purge] this evil from Israel.” But the ·Benjaminites [L sons of Benjamin] would not listen to their ·fellow Israelites [L brothers, the sons of Israel].
20:14  The ·Benjaminites [L sons of Benjamin] left their own cities and met at Gibeah to fight the Israelites.
20:15  In only one day the ·Benjaminites [L sons of Benjamin] ·got [mobilized; mustered] 26,000 soldiers together who ·were trained with swords [L drew the sword]. They also had 700 ·chosen [elite; well-trained] men from Gibeah.
20:16  Among all these trained soldiers, seven hundred were left-handed [3:15], each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss [1 Sam. 17:49]!
20:17  The Israelites, except for the Benjaminites, gathered 400,000 ·soldiers with swords [men who drew the sword, all of them men of war].
20:18  The ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] went up to the ·city of Bethel [or house of God; C the meaning of the name “Bethel”] and asked God, “·Which tribe [L Who] shall be first to attack the Benjaminites?” The Lord answered, “Judah shall go first.”
20:19  The next morning the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] got up and ·made a camp near [or encamped against] Gibeah.
20:20  The men of Israel went out to fight the Benjaminites and took their battle position at Gibeah.
20:21  Then the ·Benjaminites [L sons/descendants of Benjamin] came out of Gibeah and killed 22,000 Israelites during the battle that day.
20:22  The ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] went before the Lord and cried until evening. They asked the Lord, “Shall we go to fight ·our relatives, the Benjaminites [L the sons of my brother Benjamin], again?” The Lord answered, “Go up and fight them.” The men of Israel encouraged each other. So they took the same battle positions they had taken the first day.
20:23  The ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] went before the Lord and cried until evening. They asked the Lord, “Shall we go to fight ·our relatives, the Benjaminites [L the sons of my brother Benjamin], again?” The Lord answered, “Go up and fight them.” The men of Israel encouraged each other. So they took the same battle positions they had taken the first day.
20:24  The ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] ·came to fight [L drew near to] the ·Benjaminites [L sons/descendants of Benjamin] the second day.
20:25  The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah to attack the Israelites. This time, the Benjaminites killed 18,000 ·Israelites [L men of the sons/T children of Israel], all of whom ·carried swords [drew the sword].
20:26  Then all the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel], the whole army, went up to Bethel [v. 18]. There they sat down and cried to the Lord and fasted all day until evening. They also brought burnt offerings and ·fellowship [or peace] offerings to the Lord.
20:27  The ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] asked the Lord a question. (In those days the Ark of the ·Agreement with God [Covenant; Treaty] was there.
20:28  A priest named Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, served before ·the Ark of the Agreement [L it].) They asked, “Shall ·we [L I] go to fight ·our relatives [L my brother], the Benjaminites, again, or shall we stop fighting?” The Lord answered, “Go, because tomorrow I will ·hand them over to you [give them into your hand].”
20:29  Then the Israelites set up ambushes all around Gibeah.
20:30  They went to fight against the Benjaminites at Gibeah on the third day, getting into position for battle as they had done before.
20:31  When the Benjaminites came out to fight them, the ·Israelites [L people] backed up and drew them away from the city. The ·Benjaminites [L sons/descendants of Benjamin] began to kill some of the ·Israelites [L people] as they had done before. About thirty Israelites were killed—some in the fields and some on the roads leading to Bethel and to Gibeah.
20:32  The ·Benjaminites [L sons/descendants of Benjamin] said, “We are winning as before!” But the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] said, “Let’s ·run [retreat; flee]. Let’s ·trick them into going farther away [L draw/lure them away] from their city and onto the roads.”
20:33  All the Israelites moved from their places and got into battle positions at a place named Baal Tamar. Then the Israelites ·ran out [charged; jumped up] from their hiding places ·west of Gibeah [or from Maareh-geba].
20:34  Ten thousand of the ·best trained [elite; chosen] soldiers from all of Israel attacked Gibeah. The battle was very hard. The Benjaminites did not know disaster was ·about to come to them [close at hand; L touching against them].
20:35  The Lord ·used the Israelites to defeat the Benjaminites [L struck Benjamin in front of Israel]. On that day the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] killed 25,100 Benjaminites, ·all armed with swords [L who drew the sword].
20:36  Then the ·Benjaminites [L sons/descendants of Benjamin] saw that they were defeated. The Israelites had ·moved back [retreated] because they were depending on the ·surprise attack [ambush] they had set up near Gibeah [C verses 36b–45 now detail the account summarized in verses 29–36a)].
20:37  The men in ·hiding [ambush] rushed into Gibeah, spread out, and killed everyone in the city with ·their swords [L the edge of the sword].
20:38  Now the Israelites had set up a signal with the men in hiding. The men in the ·surprise attack [ambush] were to send up a cloud of smoke from the city.
20:39  Then the army of Israel ·turned around in the battle [counterattacked; C a similar strategy was used against Ai; Josh. 8]. The Benjaminites had killed about thirty Israelites. They were saying, “·We are winning [They are defeated], as in the first battle!”
20:40  But then a cloud of smoke began to rise from the city. The Benjaminites turned around and ·saw that [L look; T behold] the whole city was going up ·in smoke [L into the sky/heavens].
20:41  Then the Israelites turned and began to fight. The Benjaminites were terrified because they knew that disaster was ·coming to them [close at hand; L touching against them].
20:42  So the Benjaminites ran away from the Israelites toward the ·desert [wilderness], but ·they could not escape the battle [the battle pursued/overtook them]. And the Israelites who came out of the cities ·killed [struck; destroyed] them.
20:43  They surrounded the Benjaminites and chased them and ·caught [overtook; stomped on] them in the area east of ·Gibeah [or Geba].
20:44  So 18,000 ·brave [valiant; capable] Benjaminite fighters were killed.
20:45  The Benjaminites ·ran [fled; retreated] toward the ·desert [wilderness] to the rock of Rimmon, but the Israelites ·killed [cut down; L gleaned] 5,000 Benjaminites along the roads. They chased them as far as Gidom and ·killed [struck down] 2,000 more Benjaminites there.
20:46  On that day 25,000 Benjaminites were killed, ·all of whom had fought bravely with swords [L valiant/capable men who drew the sword].
20:47  But 600 Benjaminites ran to the rock of Rimmon in the ·desert [wilderness], where they stayed for four months.
20:48  Then the Israelites went back to the ·land [L sons] of Benjamin and killed the people in every city and also the animals and everything they could find. And they burned every city they ·found [came to].