Judges 20:15-25

15 They called out twenty-six thousand soldiers from their cities that day. Besides these, the citizens of Gibeah gathered seven hundred specially chosen men who were left-handed. Every one of them could sling a stone at a strand of hair and never miss.

17 Not counting the tribe of Benjamin, the Israelites gathered 400,000 trained soldiers.

18 The Israelites went to the place of worship at Bethel, and there they asked God, "Which tribe should attack the Benjaminites first?" The Lord answered, "The tribe of Judah."

19 So the Israelites started out the next morning and camped near the city of Gibeah.

20 They went to attack the army of Benjamin, and placed the soldiers in position facing the city.

21 The army of Benjamin came out of the city, and before the day was over they had killed twenty-two thousand Israelite soldiers.

22 Then the Israelites went to the place of worship and mourned in the presence of the Lord until evening. They asked him, "Should we go again into battle against our brothers the Benjaminites?" The Lord answered, "Yes." So the Israelite army was encouraged, and they placed their soldiers in position again, where they had been the day before.

24 They marched against the army of Benjamin a second time.

25 And for the second time the Benjaminites came out of Gibeah, and this time they killed eighteen thousand trained Israelite soldiers.

Judges 20:15-25 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 20

This chapter relates, how that there was an assembly of the children of Israel at Mizpeh, upon what had happened to the concubine of the Levite, where he appeared and related the whole affair to them, Jud 20:1-7 upon which they unanimously agreed to chastise the inhabitants of Gibeah for what they had done, Jud 20:8-11, and in order to do that sent to the tribe of Benjamin to deliver the guilty, but instead of that they took to their arms, and prepared for battle in defence of them, Jud 20:12-17 and two battles ensued on this, in which the Israelites, who were on the right side of the question, were worsted, Jud 20:18-25 but upon their seeking the Lord again, and their humiliation before him, they engaged a third time in battle, and got an entire victory over the Benjaminites, and destroyed them all excepting six hundred men, Jud 20:26-48.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Some ancient translations] men; [Hebrew] men. In all this number there were seven hundred specially chosen men.