Judges 20:36

36 filii autem Beniamin cum se inferiores esse vidissent coeperunt fugere quod cernentes filii Israhel dederunt eis ad fugiendum locum ut ad praeparatas insidias devenirent quas iuxta urbem posuerant

Judges 20:36 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:36

So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten
Their forces broken and worsted, many being killed:

for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjaminites;
at first, and made as if they were afraid of them, and so fled before them, which was only to decoy them to a greater distance from the city Gibeah:

because they trusted unto the liers in wait, which they had set beside
Gibeah;
that these would not only enter the city, and burn it, but meet the Benjaminites fleeing back to it, when they should turn upon them and smite them, and so cut off all that remained of them.

Judges 20:36 In-Context

34 et ab occidentali urbis parte procedere sed et alia decem milia virorum de universo Israhel habitatores urbis ad certamina provocabant ingravatumque est bellum contra filios Beniamin et non intellexerunt quod ex omni parte illis instaret interitus

35 percussitque eos Dominus in conspectu filiorum Israhel et interfecerunt ex eis in illo die viginti quinque milia et centum viros omnes bellatores et educentes gladium

36 filii autem Beniamin cum se inferiores esse vidissent coeperunt fugere quod cernentes filii Israhel dederunt eis ad fugiendum locum ut ad praeparatas insidias devenirent quas iuxta urbem posuerant

37 qui cum repente de latibulis surrexissent et Beniamin terga caedentibus daret ingressi sunt civitatem et percusserunt eam in ore gladii

38 signum autem dederant filii Israhel his quos in insidiis conlocaverant ut postquam urbem cepissent ignem accenderent et ascendente in altum fumo captam urbem demonstrarent