Judges 20:17

Judges 20:17 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.
• New International Version (NIV)Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fit for battle.
• English Standard Version (ESV)And the men of Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered 400,000 men who drew the sword; all these were men of war.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Now besides Benjamin, the men of Israel numbered four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of war.

Context of Judges 20:17

1526,000 soldiers came to Gibeah with their weapons, ready to fight. There were also 700 brave soldiers already in Gibeah. 16In Benjamin's army there were 700 men who used their left hands to fight. Each of them could use a sling to throw a stone at a very small thing. They could even hit a hair! The other Israelite tribes, without Benjamin, had an army of 400,000 soldiers who knew how to use their weapons. 18They went to Bethel. They asked God which tribe should go first to attack Benjamin's army. The Lord replied, ‘Judah must go first.’ 19The next morning, the Israelites got up and they prepared to attack Gibeah.

Judges 20:17 word by word

וְאִ֨ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל הִתְפָּֽקְד֗וּ לְבַד֙ מִבִּנְיָמִ֔ן אַרְבַּ֨ע מֵא֥וֹת אֶ֛לֶף אִ֖ישׁ שֹׁ֣לֵֽף חָ֑רֶב כָּל־זֶ֖ה אִ֥ישׁ מִלְחָמָֽה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And the menאִישׁ'îysh · manH376
• of Israelיִשְׂרָאֵלyiώrâ'êl · IsraelH3478
• beside Benjaminבִּנְיָמִיןbinyâmîyn · BenjaminH1144
• were numberedפָּקַדpâqad · to reckon: listH6485
• fourאַרְבַּע'arba‛ 'arbâ‛âh · fourH702
• hundredמֵאָהmê'âh mê'yâh · hundredH3967
• thousandאֶ֫לֶף'eleph · thousandH505
• that drewשָׁלַףshâlaph · to drawH8025
• swordחֶ֫רֶבchereb · swordH2719
• of warמִלְחָמָהmilchâmâh · battleH4421

Cross-references for Judges 20:17

• Judges 20:2The leaders of all Israel's tribes stood there with the people of God. There were 400,000 Israelite men who had their weapons, ready to fight.
• Numbers 1:46The number of all the men was 603,550.
• Numbers 26:51There were 601,730 men on the list of all the Israelites.
• 1 Samuel 11:8They met together at Bezek. Saul counted 300,000 men from Israel and 30,000 men from Judah.
• 1 Samuel 15:4So Saul called his army to come together. The men met at Telaim and Saul counted them. There were 200,000 soldiers from Israel and another 10,000 men from Judah's tribe.
• 1 Chronicles 21:5Joab reported to David about the number of soldiers who could fight. There were 1,100,000 men in all Israel who could fight with swords. There were 470,000 men in Judah who could fight with swords.
• 2 Chronicles 17:14These are the groups of the soldiers in each clan: From Judah's tribe, the officer who led the soldiers was Adnah. He had authority over 300,000 soldiers, in groups of 1,000.

Commentaries on Judges 20:17

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15-17Verses 15-17 Comparing the numbers here with those in Judges 20:16 See Judges 3:15, and note. In the Septuagint and Vulgate the 700 chosen men of Gibeah are represented as the seven hundred left-handed slingers.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 13-17Benjamin's response matched its independent and warlike nature (compare Genesis 49:27). The tribe had strong confidence in its famous warriors (Judges 3:12–30; 1 Chronicles 12:2). Although outnumbered nearly three to one, they defeated the rest of Israel twice and caused many casualties (Judges 20:18–24).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 14-1714-17. the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah--Allowing their valor to be ever so great, nothing but blind passion and unbending obstinacy could have impelled them to take the field against their brethren with such a disparity of numbers.Read the comment

In the dictionaries

• Benjamin
• Israel
• Four Hundred
• Congregation
• Fetch
• Gibeah
• Glean
• Trust
• Wickedness
• Wolf

Commentaries on Judges 20

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• Darby Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary