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Book of Judges, Chapter 20

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Judges 20 NASB - New American Standard BibleJudges 20 NASB - New American Standard Bible

Chapter 20 of Judges—New American Standard Bible (NASB)

  1. ¶ Then all the sons of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, came out, and the congregation assembled as one man to the LORD at 1Mizpah.
  2. The [a]chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, took their stand in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 foot [b]soldiers 2who drew the sword.
  3. (Now the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the sons of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wickedness take place?”
  4. So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “I came with my concubine to spend the night at Gibeah which belongs to Benjamin.
  5. But the 3men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me; instead, they 4ravished my concubine so that she died.
  6. And I 5took hold of my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance; for 6they have committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.
  7. Behold, all you sons of Israel, 7give your advice and counsel here.”
  8. ¶ Then all the people arose as one man, saying, “Not one of us will go to his tent, nor will any of us return to his house.
  9. But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up against it by lot.
  10. And we will take 10 men out of 100 throughout the tribes of Israel, and 100 out of 1,000, and 1,000 out of 10,000 to [c]supply food for the people, that when they come to [d]Gibeah of Benjamin, they may [e]punish them for all the disgraceful acts that they have committed in Israel.”
  11. Thus all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united as one man.
  12. ¶ Then the tribes of Israel sent men through the entire [f]tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has taken place among you?
  13. Now then, deliver up the men, the [g]8worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and 9remove this wickedness from Israel.” But the sons of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.
  14. The sons of Benjamin gathered from the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the sons of Israel.
  15. From the cities on that day the 10sons of Benjamin were [h]numbered, 26,000 men who draw the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah who were [i]numbered, 700 choice men.
  16. Out of all these people 700 11choice men were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.
  17. ¶ Then the men of Israel besides Benjamin were [j]numbered, 400,000 men who draw the sword; all these were men of war.
  18. ¶ Now the sons of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and 12inquired of God and said, “Who shall go up first for us to battle against the sons of Benjamin?” Then the LORD said, “Judah shall go up first.”
  19. ¶ So the sons of Israel arose in the morning and camped against Gibeah.
  20. The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel arrayed for battle against them at Gibeah.
  21. Then the sons of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and [k]13felled to the ground on that day 22,000 men of Israel.
  22. But the people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves and arrayed for battle again in the place where they had arrayed themselves the first day.
  23. 14The sons of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and 15inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall we again draw near for battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin?” And the LORD said, “Go up against him.”
  24. ¶ Then the sons of Israel [l]came against the sons of Benjamin the second day.
  25. Benjamin went out [m]against them from Gibeah the second day and [n]felled to the ground again 18,000 men of the sons of Israel; all these drew the sword.
  26. Then 16all the sons of Israel and all the people went up and came to Bethel and wept; thus they remained there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening. And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
  27. The sons of Israel 17inquired of the LORD (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
  28. and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, Aaron’s son, stood before it to minister in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?” And the LORD said, “Go up, 18for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.”
  29. 19So Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah.
  30. The sons of Israel went up against the sons of Benjamin on the third day and arrayed themselves against Gibeah as at other times.
  31. 20The sons of Benjamin went out [o]against the people and were drawn away from the city, and they began to strike [p]and kill some of the people as at other times, on the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, and in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
  32. The sons of Benjamin said, “They are struck down before us, as at the first.” But the sons of Israel said, “Let us flee that we may draw them away from the city to the highways.”
  33. Then all the men of Israel arose from their place and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamar; 21and the men of Israel in ambush broke out of their place, even out of Maareh-geba.
  34. When ten thousand choice men from all Israel came against Gibeah, the battle became [q]fierce; 22but [r]Benjamin did not know that [s]disaster was [t]close to them.
  35. And the LORD struck Benjamin before Israel, so that the sons of Israel destroyed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day, all [u]who draw the sword.
  36. ¶ So the sons of Benjamin saw that they were [v]defeated. 23When the men of Israel gave [w]ground to Benjamin because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah,
  37. 24the men in ambush hurried and rushed against Gibeah; the men in ambush also deployed and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.
  38. Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was 25that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise from the city.
  39. Then the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike [x]and kill about thirty men of Israel, 26for they said, “Surely they are [y]defeated before us, as in the first battle.”
  40. But when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, Benjamin looked 27behind them; and behold, the whole city was going up in smoke to heaven.
  41. Then the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified; for they saw that [z]28disaster was [aa]close to them.
  42. Therefore, they turned their backs before the men of Israel 29toward the direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them while those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst of them.
  43. 30They surrounded Benjamin, pursued them without rest and trod them down opposite Gibeah toward the [ab]east.
  44. Thus 18,000 men of Benjamin fell; all these were valiant warriors.
  45. [ac]The rest turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of 31Rimmon, but they [ad]caught 5,000 of them on the highways and overtook them [ae]at Gidom and [af]killed 2,000 of them.
  46. So all of Benjamin who fell that day were 25,000 men who draw the sword; all these were valiant warriors.
  47. But 600 men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they remained at the rock of Rimmon four months.
  48. The men of Israel then turned back against the sons of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city with the cattle and all that they found; they also set on fire all the cities which they found.

FOOTNOTES

  1. ^ Lit cornerstones
  2. ^ Lit men
  3. ^ Lit take
  4. ^ Heb Geba
  5. ^ Lit do
  6. ^ Lit tribes
  7. ^ Lit sons of Belial
  8. ^ Or mustered
  9. ^ Or mustered
  10. ^ Or mustered
  11. ^ Lit destroyed
  12. ^ Lit approached
  13. ^ Lit to meet
  14. ^ Lit destroyed
  15. ^ Lit to meet
  16. ^ Lit slain ones
  17. ^ Lit heavy
  18. ^ Lit they
  19. ^ Lit evil
  20. ^ Lit touching
  21. ^ Lit these
  22. ^ Lit smitten
  23. ^ Lit place
  24. ^ Lit slain ones
  25. ^ Lit smitten
  26. ^ Lit evil
  27. ^ Lit touching
  28. ^ Lit sunrise
  29. ^ So with Gr; Heb And they
  30. ^ Lit gleaned
  31. ^ Lit as far as
  32. ^ Lit smote

REFERENCES

  1. ^ 1Sa 7:5
  2. ^ Jg 8:10
  3. ^ Jg 19:22
  4. ^ Jg 19:25f
  5. ^ Jg 19:29
  6. ^ Ge 34:7; Jos 7:15
  7. ^ Jg 19:30
  8. ^ 2Co 6:15
  9. ^ De 13:5; 17:12; 1Co 5:13
  10. ^ Nu 1:36, 37; 2:23; 26:41
  11. ^ Jg 3:15; 1Ch 12:2
  12. ^ Nu 27:21; Jg 20:23, 27
  13. ^ Jg 20:25
  14. ^ Jos 7:6, 7
  15. ^ Jg 20:18
  16. ^ Jg 20:23; 21:2
  17. ^ Jg 20:18
  18. ^ Jg 7:9
  19. ^ Jos 8:4
  20. ^ Jos 8:16
  21. ^ Jos 8:19
  22. ^ Jos 8:14; Jb 21:13
  23. ^ Jos 8:15
  24. ^ Jos 8:19
  25. ^ Jos 8:20
  26. ^ Jg 20:32
  27. ^ Jos 8:20
  28. ^ Pr 5:22; 11:5, 6; 29:6
  29. ^ Jos 8:15, 24
  30. ^ Ho 9:9; 10:9
  31. ^ Jg 21:13

Read Judges Chapter 20 in other Bible versions:

Comments

  1. David yakubuDavid yakubu
    Oct 29, 2022 08:05 GMT

    When i do read some comments and seeing that its the same people that are supposed to be called believers but are talking ill of other denominations, it hurts. Let us all remember that We should judge not

    1. jonas smithjonas smith
      Apr 23, 2023 02:57 GMT

      The bible tells us to test the spirits. Satan disguises himself as angel of light. So yes some denomination are not teaching the truth. You are responsible for judging which ones are not. You have to judge the truth at all times. this is what the bible teaches

  2. THTH
    Apr 7, 2021 00:20 GMT

    The NWT is a very good translation. Dr. Jason David BeDuhn PhD attests to that in his book Truth in Translation. drive.google.com/...5p16melHzg8/view

    1. jim mcleodjim mcleod
      Aug 22, 2021 06:16 GMT

      NWT is a false translation that takes away from the deity of Jesus !

  3. SlightlyChaoticSlightlyChaotic
    Jan 30, 2021 16:33 GMT

    Thank you for taking the time to provide this service. I like seeing the NASB on your web page in the same format as I read on paper. On other sites, the text area is smaller, and so I have to keep scrolling down to read and sometimes I lose the context. So I really appreciate the format.

    As far as the NWT, you are certainly free to do whatever you think best with your own web pages. I'd suggest that you make a note anytime you have a translation that is associated with only one denomination or church, for example:
    New World Translation (Jehovah's Witness version).

    In Jesus' parable of the wheat and the tares. the main idea seems to be that you can't easily distinguish between God's people and not-God's people on this earth, so our Lord's response is to wait until they are shown to be the kind of people they are inside. But the NWT seems like false teaching to me. So I think the warning passages from Jesus' apostles are more applicable, as in 2 Peter 3:15-16, when he talks about Paul's writings:
    "There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures."
    And we also have the positive exhortations, as in 2 Timothy 2:15:
    "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth."

    1. BroderickBroderick
      Jan 31, 2021 00:57 GMT

      Your suggestion regarding the denominational flagging is duly noted. But I can’t help but wonder, wouldn’t a Catholic also want “Protestant versions” marked as well?

      As for the parable, I’m pretty sure the slaves were convinced in their own minds that they could tell the tares from the wheat. After all, aren’t they the ones who identified the problem in the first place? But the master obviously thought otherwise.

      Furthermore, even at the time when Jesus himself was walking the earth, not everybody who claimed fellowship actually followed him causing John to inquire at Mark 9:39, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him . . . for he who is not against us is for us.”

  4. Joshua HarderJoshua Harder
    Dec 11, 2020 17:48 GMT

    Hello, question.. why have you included the NWT with other legitimate bible translations? Or why have you not atleast included a warning to readers? Don't you fear that someone could be influenced by the Watchtower's intentional heresies? Thank you.

    1. KevinKevin
      Jul 11, 2021 17:45 GMT

      en.m.wikipedia.org/..._Holy_Scriptures

      See the section critical review

  5. julietjuliet
    Aug 17, 2022 09:36 GMT

    the sky is blue

  6. mercymercy
    Aug 12, 2022 21:23 GMT

    i am Mercy, the sky is blue what else do you need

    1. mercymercy
      Aug 12, 2022 21:25 GMT

      i am so sorry, it was a big mistake

  7. God is able to do all thingsGod is able to do all things
    May 17, 2021 17:59 GMT

    Jesus how much love calling yo name

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