Judges 20:48

THE MESSAGE

The men of Israel came back and killed all the Benjaminites who were left, all the men and animals they found in every town, and then torched the towns, sending them up in flames.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The men of Israel turned back against the other Benjaminites and killed them with their swords—the entire city, the animals, and everything that remained. They also burned all the cities that remained.

Hebrew Names Version
The men of Yisra'el turned again on the children of Binyamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the cattle, and all that they found: moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.

King James Version
And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

Lexham English Bible
And the men of Israel returned to the descendants of Benjamin, and they put them to the edge of the sword, both the inhabitants of city and the animals that were found; they also set on fire all the cities that they found.

English Standard Version
And the men of Israel turned back against the people of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, the city, men and beasts and all that they found. And all the towns that they found they set on fire.

New Century Version
Then the Israelites went back to the land of Benjamin and killed the people in every city and also the animals and everything they could find. And they burned every city they found.

New English Translation
The Israelites returned to the Benjaminite towns and put the sword to them. They wiped out the cities, the animals, and everything they could find. They set fire to every city in their path.

Amplified Bible
The men of Israel turned back against [the tribe of] the sons of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city [of Gibeah] and the livestock and all that they found. They also set on fire all the [surrounding] towns which they found.

New American Standard Bible
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.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then the men of Israel returned vnto the children of Beniamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword from the men of the citie vnto the beasts, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they coulde come by.

Legacy Standard Bible
Toe gaan die manne van Israel terug na die kinders van Benjamin en verslaan hulle met die skerpte van die swaard, sowel mense as diere en alles wat voorgekom het; ook al die stede wat hulle aangetref het, het hulle aan die brand gesteek.

Contemporary English Version
The Israelites turned back and went to every town in Benjamin's territory, killing all the people and animals, and setting the towns on fire.

Complete Jewish Bible
The men of Isra'el turned back on the people of Binyamin and killed them with the sword, the entire city, the cattle and everything they found. Moreover, they set on fire all the cities they encountered.

Darby Translation
And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of [every] city as the cattle, and all that was found; even all the cities that were found did they set on fire.

Easy-to-Read Version
The men of Israel went back to the land of Benjamin. They killed the people and all the animals in every city. They destroyed everything they could find and burned every city they came to.

George Lamsa Translation
And the men of Israel turned again upon the Benjamites, and smote them with the edge of the sword, and consumed them out of the cities, both men and beasts and all that they found; also they set on fire all the cities which they found.

Good News Translation
The Israelites turned back against the rest of the Benjaminites and killed them all—men, women, and children, and animals as well. They burned every town in the area.

Literal Translation
And the men of Israel turned back to the sons of Benjamin, and struck them by the mouth of the sword, from the entire city to livestock, to all that was found. Also they set fire to all the cities which were found.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the men of Israel came agayne to the children of BenIamin, and smote them that were in the cite with ye edge of the swerde, both me and catell and all that was founde: and what soeuer was foude in the cite, they cast it in to the fyre.

American Standard Version
And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the cattle, and all that they found: moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.

Bible in Basic English
And the men of Israel, turning again against the children of Benjamin, put to the sword without mercy all the towns and the cattle and everything there was, burning every town which came into their hands.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the men of Israel turned backe againe vnto the children of Beniamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword in the cities, both man & beast, and al that came to hande, and set on fyre all the cities that they coulde come by.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the men of Israel turned back upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the cattle, and all that they found; moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.

King James Version (1611)
And the men of Israel turned againe vpon the children of Beniamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of euery citie, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the children of Israel returned to the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword from the city of Methla, even to the cattle, and every thing that was found in all the cities: and they burnt with fire the cities they found.

English Revised Version
And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the cattle and all that they found: moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.

Berean Standard Bible
And the men of Israel turned back against the other Benjamites and struck down with the sword all the cities, including the animals and everything else they found. And they burned down all the cities in their path.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe the sones of Israel yeden out, and smytiden with swerd alle the remenauntis of the citee, fro men `til to werk beestis; and deuourynge flawme wastide alle the citees and townes of Beniamyn.

Young's Literal Translation
And the men of Israel have turned back unto the sons of Benjamin, and smite them by the mouth of the sword out of the city, -- men unto cattle, unto all that is found; also all the cities which are found they have sent into fire.

Update Bible Version
And the men of Israel turned again on the sons of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword in the town: men to cattle, to all they found. Moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of [every] city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

World English Bible
The men of Israel turned again on the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the cattle, and all that they found: moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.

New King James Version
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 Living Translation
And 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.

New Life Bible
Then the men of Israel returned to fight the people of Benjamin. They destroyed them, their whole city, the cattle and all they found, with the sword. And they set fire to all the cities they found.

New Revised Standard
Meanwhile, the Israelites turned back against the Benjaminites, and put them to the sword—the city, the people, the animals, and all that remained. Also the remaining towns they set on fire.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thus, the men of Israel, turned against the sons of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, beginning with the city, each and every one down to the beast, even to every one that was met with, - moreover, all the cities they came to, they set on fire.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But the children of Israel returning, put all the remains of the city to the sword, both men and beasts, and all the cities and villages of Benjamin were consumed with devouring flames.

Revised Standard Version
And the men of Israel turned back against the Benjaminites, and smote them with the edge of the sword, men and beasts and all that they found. And all the towns which they found they set on fire.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
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.

Contextual Overview

²⁶ All the People of Israel, the whole army, were back at Bethel, weeping, sitting there in the presence of God . That day they fasted until evening. They sacrificed Whole-Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings before God . ²⁷And they again inquired of God . The Chest of God's Covenant was there at that time with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, as the ministering priest. They asked, "Shall we again march into battle against the Benjaminites, our brothers? Or should we call it quits?" And God said, "Attack. Tomorrow I'll give you victory." ²⁹This time Israel placed men in ambush all around Gibeah. On the third day when Israel set out, they took up the same positions before the Benjaminites as before. When the Benjaminites came out to meet the army, they moved out from the city. Benjaminites began to cut down some of the troops just as they had before. About thirty men fell in the field and on the roads to Bethel and Gibeah. ³² The Benjaminites started bragging, "We're dropping them like flies, just as before!" ³³ But the Israelites strategized: "Now let's retreat and pull them out of the city onto the main roads." So every Israelite moved farther out to Baal Tamar; at the same time the Israelite ambush rushed from its place west of Gibeah. ³⁴Ten crack divisions from all over Israel now arrived at Gibeah—intense, bloody fighting! The Benjaminites had no idea that they were about to go down in defeat— God routed them before Israel. The Israelites decimated twenty-five divisions of Benjamin that day—25,100 killed. They were all swordsmen. The Benjaminites saw that they were beaten. The men of Israel acted like they were retreating before Benjamin, knowing that they could depend on the ambush they had prepared for Gibeah. ³⁷The ambush erupted and made quick work of Gibeah. The ambush spread out and massacred the city. The strategy for the main body of the ambush was that they send up a smoke signal from the city. Then the men of Israel would turn in battle. When that happened, Benjamin had killed about thirty Israelites and thought they were on their way to victory, yelling out, "They're on the run, just as in the first battle!" But then the signal went up from the city—a huge column of smoke. When the Benjaminites looked back, there it was, the whole city going up in smoke. ⁴¹By the time the men of Israel had turned back on them, the men of Benjamin fell apart—they could see that they were trapped. Confronted by the Israelites, they tried to get away down the wilderness road, but by now the battle was everywhere. The men of Israel poured out of the towns, killing them right and left, hot on their trail, picking them off east of Gibeah. ⁴⁴ Eighteen divisions of Benjaminites were wiped out, all their best fighters. ⁴⁵ Five divisions turned to escape to the wilderness, to Rimmon Rock, but the Israelites caught and slaughtered them on roads. Keeping the pressure on, the Israelites brought down two more divisions.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

smote them: Deuteronomy 13:15-17, 2 Chronicles 25:13, 2 Chronicles 28:6-9, Proverbs 18:19

came to hand: Heb. was found

they came to: Heb. were found

Reciprocal: Judges 21:23 - repaired

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin,.... After they had destroyed their army, the city of Gibeah, and the inhabitants of it: not content with this, in their wrath and fury, turned and went,

and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city; even men, women, and children, in every city of Benjamin, at least all that lay in their way; and which they might do to be avenged on them, for sending out their militia against them, which had made such a slaughter among them to the loss of 40,000 men, or to fulfil their oath, that such who came not to Mizpeh should be put to death; for which reason also the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead, as well as of the cities of Benjamin, were put to death, men, women, and children, dealing in the same severity with them as with the Canaanitish nations, or as with a city given to idolatry:

as the beast, and all that came to hand; spared no living creature, herds and flocks:

also they set on fire all the cities that they came unto; which belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, so exceedingly wroth were they with them, for protecting such that had been the authors of such abominable wickedness, and for the loss of the lives of so many valuable men.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They treated Benjamin as devoted to utter destruction, as Jericho had been Joshua 6:17, Joshua 6:21, and the whole tribe was all but actually extirpated. We see in the punishment inflicted the same ferocity which marked both the crime and the Levite’s mode of requiring vengeance.