Judges 20:44

44 And eighteen thousand men from Benjamin fell, all of them {able men}.

Judges 20:44 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:44

And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men
Just the number they had slain of Israel in the second battle. This is the number of them that were slain when Israel turned upon them, and by that time they got to the east of Gibeah; afterwards 5000 more were slain on the highways, and 2000 near Gidom, as after related:

all these were men of valour;
as appears by three times facing and engaging with the army of Israel, so vastly superior to them, and twice beating them.

Judges 20:44 In-Context

42 And they retreated from before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness, but the battle caught up to them, and [those] who [came] from the cities destroyed them in the midst of them.

43 They surrounded Benjamin; they pursued them without rest [and] trod them down opposite Gibeah to the east.

44 And eighteen thousand men from Benjamin fell, all of them {able men}.

45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, but they cut down on the main roads five thousand men; and they pursued after them up to Gidom, and they struck down two thousand men.

46 So all of Benjamin who fell on that day were twenty-five thousand {sword-wielding men}; all of these [were] {able men}.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "men of strength"