Judges 20:38

38 The Israelites had arranged with the ambush that they should send up a great cloud of smoke from the city,

Judges 20:38 in Other Translations

38 Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city.

38 Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in the main ambush was that when they made a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city

38 They had arranged to send up a large cloud of smoke from the town as a signal.

38 The strategy for the main body of the ambush was that they send up a smoke signal from the city.

38 The men of Israel had a prearranged signal with the men in ambush: when they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city,

Judges 20:38 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:38

Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and
the liers in wait
Or an appointed time ^F26 as the Targum; so Kimchi and Abarbinel. There was a time fixed, at which the men of Israel proposed to be at Baaltamar, exactly when the Benjaminites would be drawn at a proper distance from the city, and then the liers in wait were to break forth, and rush upon it, and enter it:

and that they should make a great flame with smoke to rise up out of
the city;
set it on fire, and cause the fire to burn fiercely, that there might be a large ascent of flame and smoke to be seen afar off; which, when the men of Israel saw, they would know the city was taken.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 (dewmh) "tempus constitutum", Panginus, Montanus, Junius et Tremellius, Piscator.

Judges 20:38 In-Context

36 Then the Benjamites saw that they were beaten. Now the men of Israel had given way before Benjamin, because they relied on the ambush they had set near Gibeah.

37 Those who had been in ambush made a sudden dash into Gibeah, spread out and put the whole city to the sword.

38 The Israelites had arranged with the ambush that they should send up a great cloud of smoke from the city,

39 and then the Israelites would counterattack. The Benjamites had begun to inflict casualties on the Israelites (about thirty), and they said, “We are defeating them as in the first battle.”

40 But when the column of smoke began to rise from the city, the Benjamites turned and saw the whole city going up in smoke.

Cross References

• 1. Joshua 8:20
• 2. Joshua 8:4-8