Judges 20 NLT ISV Parallel

◄ Judges 20 ►

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1Then all the Israelites were united as one man, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, including those from across the Jordan in the land of Gilead. The entire community assembled in the presence of the LORD at Mizpah.

1Then the entire Israeli nation—from Dan to Beer-sheba, including the territory of Gilead—came out for war. The army assembled as one united force to God at Mizpah.

2The leaders of all the people and all the tribes of Israel—400,000 warriors armed with swords—took their positions in the assembly of the people of God.

2The officials of the entire nation, including every tribe of Israel, took their stand in the assembly of the people of God: 400,000 foot soldiers, all of them expert swordsmen.

3(Word soon reached the land of Benjamin that the other tribes had gone up to Mizpah.) The Israelites then asked how this terrible crime had happened.

3While the descendants of Benjamin were learning that the Israelis had gone up to Mizpah, the Israelis asked, "Somebody tell us how this evil could happen?"

4The Levite, the husband of the woman who had been murdered, said, “My concubine and I came to spend the night in Gibeah, a town that belongs to the people of Benjamin.

4So the descendant of Levi, the husband of the murdered woman, spoke up and replied, "I came to spend the night at Gibeah, which is part of Benjamin, along with my mistress.

5That night some of the leading citizens of Gibeah surrounded the house, planning to kill me, and they raped my concubine until she was dead.

5But the officials of Gibeah attacked me and surrounded the house because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they tortured my mistress to death.

6So I cut her body into twelve pieces and sent the pieces throughout the territory assigned to Israel, for these men have committed a terrible and shameful crime.

6So I grabbed my mistress, cut her in pieces, and sent her remains throughout the territory of Israel's inheritance, because they've committed a vile, stupid outrage in Israel.

7Now then, all of you—the entire community of Israel—must decide here and now what should be done about this!”

7So look, all you Israelis! Speak up and give us your advice!"

8And all the people rose to their feet in unison and declared, “None of us will return home! No, not even one of us!

8Then the entire army stood up as a single unit and declared, "Nobody's going back to his tent, and nobody's going home!

9Instead, this is what we will do to Gibeah; we will draw lots to decide who will attack it.

9This is what we'll do to Gibeah: we're going to assemble an army by lottery.

10One-tenth of the men from each tribe will be chosen to supply the warriors with food, and the rest of us will take revenge on Gibeah of Benjamin for this shameful thing they have done in Israel.”

10We'll take ten men out of 100 from all of the tribes of Israel. We'll appoint 100 out of 1,000 and 1,000 out of 10,000 to supply provisions for the army. And when we reach Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin, we'll punish them for all of the stupid things that they've done in Israel."

11So all the Israelites were completely united, and they gathered together to attack the town.

11That's how the army of Israel came to be gathered together to attack the city, united as a single unit.

12The Israelites sent messengers to the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What a terrible thing has been done among you!

12The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the entire tribe of Benjamin to ask them, "What is this evil thing that has occurred among you?

13Give up those evil men, those troublemakers from Gibeah, so we can execute them and purge Israel of this evil.” But the people of Benjamin would not listen.

13Now then, hand over the men—those ungodly men, and we'll execute them in order to remove this evil from Israel." But the descendants of Benjamin wouldn't obey the request of their own relatives, the Israelis,

14Instead, they came from their towns and gathered at Gibeah to fight the Israelites.

14so the descendants of Benjamin assembled from the cities of Gibeah to fight the Israelis in battle.

15In all, 26,000 of their warriors armed with swords arrived in Gibeah to join the 700 elite troops who lived there.

15The day of the battle, the army from the descendants of Benjamin numbered 26,000 expert swordsmen from their cities, not including the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered 700 special forces soldiers.

16Among Benjamin’s elite troops, 700 were left-handed, and each of them could sling a rock and hit a target within a hairsbreadth without missing.

16Out of all these soldiers, 700 of them were left-handed—and each one could sling a stone at a hair and never miss.

17Israel had 400,000 experienced soldiers armed with swords, not counting Benjamin’s warriors.

17But the Israeli army—not counting the tribe of Benjamin—numbered 400,000 expert swordsmen, all of them battle-hardened soldiers.

18Before the battle the Israelites went to Bethel and asked God, “Which tribe should go first to attack the people of Benjamin?” The LORD answered, “Judah is to go first.”

18The Israelis mounted up, traveled to Bethel, and asked God what to do. They said, "Who is to lead us in our opening attack against the descendants of Benjamin?" The LORD replied, "Judah is to open the attack."

19So the Israelites left early the next morning and camped near Gibeah.

19So the Israelis got up in the morning, encamped near Gibeah,

20Then they advanced toward Gibeah to attack the men of Benjamin.

20and the army of Israel went out to fight the tribe of Benjamin, assembling in battle array against them at Gibeah.

21But Benjamin’s warriors, who were defending the town, came out and killed 22,000 Israelites on the battlefield that day.

21The descendants of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and 22,000 soldiers of Israel fell in battle that day.

22But the Israelites encouraged each other and took their positions again at the same place they had fought the previous day.

22But the army—the men of Israel—encouraged themselves and arrayed for battle again the next day in the same place where they had gathered the day before.

23For they had gone up to Bethel and wept in the presence of the LORD until evening. They had asked the LORD, “Should we fight against our relatives from Benjamin again?” And the LORD had said, “Go out and fight against them.”

23From there the Israelis went up and wept in the LORD's presence until evening. Then they asked the LORD, "Should we attack the descendants of Benjamin again?" The LORD replied, "Attack them."

24So the next day they went out again to fight against the men of Benjamin,

24So the Israelis attacked the descendants of Benjamin for a second day,

25but the men of Benjamin killed another 18,000 Israelites, all of whom were experienced with the sword.

25and the tribe of Benjamin went to war against them from Gibeah during that second day, and 18,000 soldiers from the Israelis—all of them expert swordsmen—fell to the ground.

26Then all the Israelites went up to Bethel and wept in the presence of the LORD and fasted until evening. They also brought burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD.

26All the Israelis, including its army, went up from there to Bethel and wept, remaining there in the LORD's presence, fasting throughout the day until dusk, when they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings in the LORD's presence.

27The Israelites went up seeking direction from the LORD. (In those days the Ark of the Covenant of God was in Bethel,

27The Israelis inquired of the LORD, since the Ark of the Covenant was there at that time

28and Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron was the priest.) The Israelites asked the LORD, “Should we fight against our relatives from Benjamin again, or should we stop?” The LORD said, “Go! Tomorrow I will hand them over to you.”

28while Eleazar's son Phinehas, a descendant of Aaron, served before it in those days. They asked, "Should we go out to war again against the descendants of our relative Benjamin, or shall we cease?" And the LORD answered, "Go out, and tomorrow I will deliver them into your control."

29So the Israelites set an ambush all around Gibeah.

29So Israel set soldiers in ambush around Gibeah.

30They went out on the third day and took their positions at the same place as before.

30The Israelis went out against the descendants of Benjamin on the third day, arraying themselves against Gibeah as they had done previously.

31When the men of Benjamin came out to attack, they were drawn away from the town. And as they had done before, they began to kill the Israelites. About thirty Israelites died in the open fields and along the roads, one leading to Bethel and the other leading back to Gibeah.

31They attacked the army and were drawn away from the city as they began to inflict casualties on the soldiers along the roads to Bethel and Gibeah, just as they had done the other times. About 30 soldiers from Israel fell in battle there and in the fields.

32Then the warriors of Benjamin shouted, “We’re defeating them as we did before!” But the Israelites had planned in advance to run away so that the men of Benjamin would chase them along the roads and be drawn away from the town.

32Then the descendants of Benjamin told themselves, "They're falling right in front of us, just like before!" But the army of Israel told themselves, "Let's draw them away by escaping to the highways from the city."

33When the main group of Israelite warriors reached Baal-tamar, they turned and took up their positions. Meanwhile, the Israelites hiding in ambush to the west of Gibeah jumped up to fight.

33So the entire army of Israel moved from their location and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamer while that part of their army moved from their ambush positions from Maareh-geba.

34There were 10,000 elite Israelite troops who advanced against Gibeah. The fighting was so heavy that Benjamin didn’t realize the impending disaster.

34As 10,000 of Israel's best soldiers came to fight Gibeah, the battle became fierce, but the army of Benjamin didn't know that disaster was close at hand.

35So the LORD helped Israel defeat Benjamin, and that day the Israelites killed 25,100 of Benjamin’s warriors, all of whom were experienced swordsmen.

35The LORD struck Benjamin in the full view of Israel. As a result, the Israelis destroyed 25,100 soldiers of Benjamin that day, all expert swordsmen.

36Then the men of Benjamin saw that they were beaten. The Israelites had retreated from Benjamin’s warriors in order to give those hiding in ambush more room to maneuver against Gibeah.

36Then the descendants of Benjamin realized that they had been defeated. The army of Israel pretended to retreat from the army of Benjamin, knowing that they had set some soldiers in ambush near Gibeah.

37Then those who were hiding rushed in from all sides and killed everyone in the town.

37The soldiers in ambush rushed out to attack Gibeah, deploying in force and executing the entire city with swords.

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

38Meanwhile, the army of Israel had arranged to signal their soldiers who had been hiding in ambush by sending up a cloud of smoke from the city.

39When the Israelites saw the smoke, they turned and attacked Benjamin’s warriors. By that time Benjamin’s warriors had killed about thirty Israelites, and they shouted, “We’re defeating them as we did in the first battle!”

39The army of Israel turned around in the battle, and the army of Benjamin began to attack and kill about 30 soldiers, thinking, "Now we're really defeating them, just like before."

40But when the warriors of Benjamin looked behind them and saw the smoke rising into the sky from every part of the town,

40But then the smoke began to rise from the city in a column. The army of Benjamin observed behind them that the whole city was going up in flames straight into the sky!

41the men of Israel turned and attacked. At this point the men of Benjamin became terrified, because they realized disaster was close at hand.

41At that point, as the army of Israel turned back to face the army of Benjamin, the army of Benjamin was filled with terror, because they realized that disaster was about to overtake them.

42So they turned around and fled before the Israelites toward the wilderness. But they couldn’t escape the battle, and the people who came out of the nearby towns were also killed.

42So they turned tail and ran away from the army of Israel toward the wilderness, but they were overtaken in battle when soldiers came out from the cities to destroy them.

43The Israelites surrounded the men of Benjamin and chased them relentlessly, finally overtaking them east of Gibeah.

43They surrounded the army of Benjamin, pursuing them ceaselessly until they defeated them near the east-facing border of Gibeah.

44That day 18,000 of Benjamin’s strongest warriors died in battle.

44That's how 18,000 men from the tribe of Benjamin fell in battle, all of whom were valiant soldiers.

45The survivors fled into the wilderness toward the rock of Rimmon, but Israel killed 5,000 of them along the road. They continued the chase until they had killed another 2,000 near Gidom.

45The rest of them turned and ran into the wilderness in the direction of the rock of Rimmon, but 5,000 of them were killed on the highways while 2,000 of them were overtaken and killed near Gidom.

46So that day the tribe of Benjamin lost 25,000 strong warriors armed with swords,

46To sum up, the soldiers from the tribe of Benjamin who died that day totaled 25,000 men, all of them expert swordsmen and valiant soldiers.

47leaving only 600 men who escaped to the rock of Rimmon, where they lived for four months.

47However, 600 soldiers ran into the wilderness in the direction of the rock of Rimmon, where they remained as fugitives for four months.

48And the Israelites returned and slaughtered every living thing in all the towns—the people, the livestock, and everything they found. They also burned down all the towns they came to.

48Meanwhile, the army of Israel went back to fight the surviving descendants of Benjamin. They attacked the entire city with swords, including its cattle and everyone they could find. Then they set fire to all of the cities that they could find.

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