27 So the children of Israel inquired of the Lord (athe ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
28 aand Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, bstood before it in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?” And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.”
29 Then Israel aset men in ambush all around Gibeah.
30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in battle array against Gibeah as at the other times.
31 So the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city. They began to strike down and kill some of the people, as at the other times, in the highways a(one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah) and in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
32 And the children of Benjamin said, “They are defeated before us, as at first.” But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.”
33 So all the men of Israel rose from their place and put themselves in battle array at Baal Tamar. Then Israel’s men in ambush burst forth from their position in the plain of Geba.
34 And ten thousand select men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. aBut the Benjamites did not know that disaster was upon them.
35 The Lord1 defeated Benjamin before Israel. And the children of Israel destroyed that day twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites; all these drew the sword.
36 So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. aThe men of Israel had given ground to the Benjamites, because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah.
37 aAnd the men in ambush quickly rushed upon Gibeah; the men in ambush spread out and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword.
38 Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of asmoke rise up from the city,
39 whereupon the men of Israel would turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun1 to strike and kill about thirty of the men of Israel. For they said, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.”
40 But when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, the Benjamites alooked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in smoke to heaven.
41 And when the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin panicked, for they saw that disaster had come upon them.
42 Therefore they1 turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them, and whoever came out of the cities they destroyed in their midst.
43 They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily trampled them down as far as the front of Gibeah toward the east.
44 And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor.
45 Then1 they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of aRimmon; and they cut down five thousand of them on the highways. Then they pursued them relentlessly up to Gidom, and killed two thousand of them.
46 So all who fell of Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all these were1 men of valor.
47 aBut six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months.
48 And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin, and struck them down with the edge of the sword—from every city, men and beasts, all who were found. They also set fire to all the cities they came to.
New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Commentaries:
John Wesley's Notes
| << Judges 20:28 | Judges 20:30 >> |
Judges 20:29
Liers in wait - Though they were assured of the success, by a particular promise, yet they do not neglect the use of means; as well knowing that the certainty of God's promises doth not excuse, but rather require man's diligent use of all fit means for the accomplishment of them.
| << Judges 20:28 | Judges 20:30 >> |
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