World English Bible · The judges
Judges 20
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Then all the went out, and was assembled as one man, from Dan even to , with the land of , to at . The chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in of the people of , four hundred thousand footmen who drew . (Now the children of heard that the had gone up to .) The said, "Tell us, how did this wickedness happen?" The , the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered, "I came into that belongs to , I and my , to spend the night. The men of rose against me, and surrounded the house by night. They intended to kill me and they raped my , and she is . I took my and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the of Israel; for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. Behold, you , all of you, give here your and ." All the people arose as one man, saying, "None of us will go to his tent, neither will any of us turn to his house. But now this is the thing which we will do to : we will go up against it by lot; 10and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand to get food for the people, that they may do, when they come to of , according to all the folly that the men of have done in Israel." 11So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of , saying, "What wickedness is this that has happened among you? Now therefore up the men, fellows who are in , that we may put them to and evil from Israel." But would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the . The children of gathered themselves together out of the cities to , to go out to battle against the . The children of were counted on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew , in addition to the inhabitants of , who were counted seven hundred chosen men. Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed. Every one of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. The men of Israel, besides , were counted four hundred thousand men who drew . All these were men of war. The arose, went up to , and asked of . They asked, "Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of ?" said, "Judah first." The rose up in the morning and encamped against . 20The men of Israel went out to battle against ; and the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at . The children of came out of , and on that day destroyed twenty-two thousand of the men down to the ground. The people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and set the battle again in array in the place where they set themselves in array the first day. The went up and wept before until evening; and they asked of , saying, "Shall I again draw near to battle against the children of my brother?" said, "Go up against him." 24The came near against the children of the second day. went out against them out of the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the again eighteen thousand men. All these drew . Then all the and all the people went up, and came to , and wept, and sat there before , and that day until evening; then they offered burnt offerings and before . The asked (for the of was there in those days, and , the son of Eleazar, the son of , stood before it in those days), saying, "Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of my brother, or shall I cease?" said, "Go up; for tomorrow I will him into your hand." Israel set ambushes all around . 30The went up against the children of on the third day, and set themselves in array against , as at other times. The children of went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to strike and kill of the people as at other times, in the highways, of which one goes up to and the other to , in the field, about thirty men of Israel. The children of said, "They are struck down before us, as at the first." But the said, "Let's flee, and draw them away from the city to the highways." All the men of Israel rose up out of their place and set themselves in array at . Then the ambushers of Israel broke out of their place, even out of Maareh . Ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel came over against , and the battle was severe; but they didn't know that disaster was close to them. struck before Israel; and the destroyed of that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men. All these drew . So the children of saw that they were struck, for the men of Israel yielded to because they trusted the ambushers whom they had set against . The ambushers hurried, and rushed on ; then the ambushers spread out, and struck all the city with the edge of . Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambushers was that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city. The men of Israel turned in the battle, and began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, "Surely they are struck down before us, as in the first battle." But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the looked behind them; and behold, the whole city went up in smoke to . The men of Israel turned, and the men of were dismayed; for they saw that disaster had come on them. Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to of , but the battle followed hard after them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the middle of it. They surrounded the , chased them, and trod them down at their , as far as near toward the sunrise. 44Eighteen thousand men of fell; all these were men of valor. They turned and fled toward to of . They five thousand men of them in the highways, and followed hard after them to Gidom, and struck two thousand men of them. So that all who fell that day of were twenty-five thousand men who drew . All these were men of valor. But six hundred men turned and fled toward to of , and stayed in of four months. The men of Israel turned again on the children of , and struck them with the edge of —including the entire city, the livestock, and all that they found. Moreover they set all the cities which they found on .
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The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.