Hakim-hakim 20:36-44

20:36 Then the Benjaminites saw they were defeated.

The Israelites retreated before ¹  Benjamin, because they had confidence in the men they had hid in ambush outside Gibeah. 20:37 The men hiding in ambush made a mad dash ²  to Gibeah. They ³  attacked ⁴  and put the sword to the entire city. 20:38 The Israelites and the men hiding in ambush had arranged a signal. When the men hiding in ambush ⁵  sent up a smoke signal from the city, 20:39 the Israelites counterattacked. ⁶  Benjamin had begun to strike down the Israelites; ⁷  they struck down ⁸  about thirty men. They said, “There’s no doubt about it! They are totally defeated as in the earlier battle.” 20:40 But when the signal, a pillar of smoke, began to rise up from the city, the Benjaminites turned around and saw the whole city going up in a cloud of smoke that rose high into the sky. ⁹  20:41 When the Israelites turned around, the Benjaminites panicked ¹⁰  because they could see that disaster was on their doorstep. ¹¹  20:42 They retreated before the Israelites, taking the road to the wilderness. But the battle overtook ¹²  them as men from the surrounding cities struck them down. ¹³  20:43 They surrounded the Benjaminites, chased them from Nohah, ¹⁴  and annihilated ¹⁵  them all the way to a spot east of Geba. ¹⁶  20:44 Eighteen thousand Benjaminites, all of them capable warriors, fell dead.

[20:36]  ¹ tn Heb “gave place to.”

[20:37]  ² tn Heb “hurried and put off [their hiding place].”

[20:37]  ³ tn Heb “the men hiding in ambush.”

[20:37]  ⁴ tn Or “deployed.” The verb normally means “to lead” or “to draw.”

[20:38]  ⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the men hiding in ambush) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:39]  ⁶ tn Heb “turned in the battle.”

[20:39]  ⁷ tn Heb “And Benjamin began to strike down wounded ones among the men of Israel.”

[20:39]  ⁸ tn The words “they struck down” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[20:40]  ⁹ tn Heb “Benjamin turned after him and, look, the whole city went up toward the sky.”

[20:41]  ¹⁰ tn Or “were terrified.”

[20:41]  ¹¹ tn Heb “disaster touched against them.”

[20:42]  ¹² tn Heb “clung to”; or “stuck close.”

[20:42]  ¹³ tn Heb “and those from the cities were striking them down in their midst.”

[20:43]  ¹⁴ tc The translation assumes the reading מִנּוֹחָה (minnokhah, “from Nohah”; cf. 1 Chr 8:2) rather than the MT’s מְנוּחָה (mÿnukhah, “resting place”).

[20:43]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “tread down, walk on.”

[20:43]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “unto the opposite of Gibeah toward the east.” Gibeah cannot be correct here, since the Benjaminites retreated from there toward the desert and Rimmon (see v. 45). A slight emendation yields the reading “Geba.”