Hakim-hakim 18:10

18:10 When you invade, ¹  you will encounter ²  unsuspecting people. The land is wide! ³  God is handing it over to you – a place that lacks nothing on earth!” ⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 20:2

20:2 The leaders ⁵  of all the people from all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, which numbered ⁶  four hundred thousand sword-wielding foot soldiers.

Hakim-hakim 20:25

20:25 The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers. ⁷ 

Hakim-hakim 20:28

20:28 Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving the Lord ⁸  in those days), “Should we ⁹  once more march out to fight the Benjaminites our brothers, ¹⁰  or should we ¹¹  quit?” The Lord said, “Attack, for tomorrow I will hand them ¹²  over to you.”

Hakim-hakim 20:46

20:46 That day twenty-five thousand ¹³  sword-wielding Benjaminites fell in battle, all of them capable warriors. ¹⁴ 

[18:10]  ¹ tn Heb “When you enter.”

[18:10]  ² tn Heb “you will come to.”

[18:10]  ³ tn Heb “broad of hands,” an idiom meaning “wide on both sides.”

[18:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”

[20:2]  ⁵ tn 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.

[20:2]  ⁶ tn The words “which numbered” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[20:25]  ⁷ tn 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.”

[20:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “standing before him.”

[20:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “I” (collective singular).

[20:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my brother” (collective singular).

[20:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I” (collective singular).

[20:28]  ¹² tn Heb “him” (collective singular).

[20:46]  ¹³ sn The number given here (twenty-five thousand sword-wielding Benjaminites) is an approximate figure; v. 35 gives the more exact number (25,100). According to v. 15, the Benjaminite army numbered 26,700 (26,000 + 700). The figures in vv. 35 (rounded in vv. 44-46) and 47 add up to 25,700. What happened to the other 1,000 men? The most reasonable explanation is that they were killed during the first two days of fighting. G. F. Moore (Judges [ICC], 429) and C. F. Burney (Judges, 475) reject this proposal, arguing that the narrator is too precise and concerned about details to omit such a fact. However, the account of the first two days’ fighting emphasizes Israel’s humiliating defeat. To speak of Benjaminite casualties would diminish the literary effect. In vv. 35, 44-47 the narrator’s emphasis is the devastating defeat that Benjamin experienced on this final day of battle. To mention the earlier days’ casualties at this point is irrelevant to his literary purpose. He allows readers who happen to be concerned with such details to draw conclusions for themselves.

[20:46]  ¹⁴ tn 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.