translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JDG

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “went out.”


text: Heb “and the assembly was convened as one man.”


text: Heb “the cornerstones”; or “the supports.” The word is used of leaders in only three other texts – 1 Sam 14:38 ; Isa 19:13 ; Zech 10:4 .


text: The words “which numbered” are supplied in the translation for clarification.


text: Heb “The man, the Levite.”


text: Heb “came to.”


text: Heb “which belongs to Benjamin.”


text: Heb “arose against me and surrounded against me the house at night.”


text: Heb “her”; the referent is more naturally stated in English as “the pieces.”


text: Heb “throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel.”


text: Heb “a wicked and disgraceful [thing].”


text: Heb “Look, all of you sons of Israel.”


text: Heb “give for yourselves a word and advice here.”


text: Heb “as one man.”


text: Heb “to his tent.”


text: Or “turn aside.”


text: Heb “against her by lot.” The verb “we will go up” ( נַעֲלֶה , na ’ aleh ) has probably been accidentally omitted before “against her” ( עָלֶיהָ , ’ aleha ). sn As the lot dictates . The Israelite soldiers intended to cast lots to determine which tribe would lead the battle charge (see v. 18 ).


text: Or “people.”


text: Heb “to do at their arrival in Geba of Benjamin according to all the disgraceful [thing] which he [collective = “Benjamin”] did in Israel.” Here “Geba” must be an error for “Gibeah.”


text: Heb “gathered at the city as one man, united.”


label: NET textual note

text: The MT reads the plural, but surely the singular (which is supported by the LXX and Vulgate) is preferable here.


text: Heb “What is this wicked thing which happened among you?”


text: Heb “the men, sons of wickedness.”


text: Heb “and burn away wickedness from Israel.”


text: Heb “assembled from the cities at Gibeah.”


text: Heb “besides from the ones living in Gibeah they mustered seven hundred choice men.”


text: Heb “And from all this people.”


text: Heb “seven hundred choice men, bound/restricted in the right hand.” On the significance of the idiom, “bound/restricted in the right hand,” see the translator’s note on 3:15 .


text: “at a single hair and not miss.”


text: Heb “a man of war.”


text: For location see Map4-G4 ; Map5-C1 ; Map6-E3 ; Map7-D1 ; Map8-G3 .


text: Heb “They arose and went up to Bethel and asked God, and the Israelites said.”


text: Heb “Who should go up for us first for battle against the sons of Benjamin?”


text: Heb “encamped.”


text: Heb “the men of Israel.” The noun phrase has been replaced by the pronoun (“they”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “The sons of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and they struck down in Israel that day twenty-two thousand men to the ground.”


text: Heb “The people, the men of Israel.”


text: Or “encouraged one another.”


text: Heb “I” (collective singular).


text: Heb “approach for battle.”


text: Heb “my brother” (collective singular).


text: Heb “Go up against him” (collective singular).


text: Heb “drew near to.”


text: Heb “And Benjamin went out to meet them from Gibeah the second day, and they struck down among the sons of Israel eighteen thousand men to the ground, all of these were wielding the sword.”


text: Heb “and all the people.”


text: Heb “went up and came [to].”


text: Traditionally, “fasted.”


text: Or “peace offerings.”


text: Heb “standing before him.”


text: Heb “him” (collective singular).


text: Heb “the third day.”


text: Heb “went out to meet.”


text: Heb “and they were drawn away from the city.”


text: Heb “from the army wounded ones.”


text: The words “they struck down” are supplied in the translation for clarification.


text: Or “run away.”


text: Heb “heavy”; or “severe.”


text: Heb “And they did not know that touching against them was disaster.”


text: Heb “And the sons of Israel struck down in Benjamin that day 25,100 men, all of these wielding the sword.”


text: Heb “gave place to.”


text: Heb “hurried and put off [their hiding place].”


text: Heb “the men hiding in ambush.”


text: Or “deployed.” The verb normally means “to lead” or “to draw.”


text: Heb “they”; the referent (the men hiding in ambush) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “turned in the battle.”


text: Heb “And Benjamin began to strike down wounded ones among the men of Israel.”


text: Heb “Benjamin turned after him and, look, the whole city went up toward the sky.”


text: Or “were terrified.”


text: Heb “disaster touched against them.”


text: Heb “clung to”; or “stuck close.”


text: Heb “and those from the cities were striking them down in their midst.”


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


text: Heb “tread down, walk on.”


text: 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.”


text: Heb “they”; the referent (the rest [of the Benjaminites]) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “and they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “gleaned.” The word is an agricultural term which pictures Israelites picking off the Benjaminites as easily as one picks grapes from the vine.


text: Heb “stuck close after them.”


text: Heb “So all the ones who fell from Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men, wielding the sword, in that day, all of these men of strength.


text: Heb “to the sons of Benjamin.”


text: The translation is based on the reading מֵעִיר מְתִים ( me ’ ir mÿtim , “from a city of men,” i.e., “an inhabited city”), rather than the reading מֵעִיר מְתֹם ( me ’ ir mÿtom , “from a city of soundness”) found in the Leningrad Codex (L).


text: Heb “Also all the cities that were found they set on fire.”