Judges 20:29

Contemporary English Version

The Israelites surrounded Gibeah, but stayed where they could not be seen.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So Israel set up an ambush around Gibeah.

Hebrew Names Version
Yisra'el set liers-in-wait against Gevah round about.

King James Version
And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah.

Lexham English Bible
So Israel stationed an ambush all around Gibeah.

English Standard Version
So Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah.

New Century Version
Then the Israelites set up ambushes all around Gibeah.

New English Translation
So Israel hid men in ambush outside Gibeah.

Amplified Bible
So Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah.

New American Standard Bible
So Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And Israel set men to lie in waite round about Gibeah.

Legacy Standard Bible
En Israel het rondom teen Gíbea hinderlae opgestel.

Complete Jewish Bible
Isra'el hid some men around Giv‘ah,

Darby Translation
And Israel set liers in wait against Gibeah, round about.

Easy-to-Read Version
Then the army of Israel hid some men all around the city of Gibeah.

George Lamsa Translation
So Israel set ambushes round about Gibeah.

Good News Translation
So the Israelites put some soldiers in hiding around Gibeah.

Literal Translation
And Israel set ambushers against Gibeah all around.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the children of Israel set a preuy watch agaynst Gibea rounde aboute,

American Standard Version
And Israel set liers-in-wait against Gibeah round about.

Bible in Basic English
So Israel put men secretly all round Gibeah to make a surprise attack on it.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Israel set lyers awayte round about Gibea.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Israel set liers-in-wait against Gibeah round about.

King James Version (1611)
And Israel set lyers in waite round about Gibeah.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the children of Israel set an ambush against Gabaa round about it.

English Revised Version
And Israel set liers in wait against Gibeah round about.

Berean Standard Bible
So Israel set up an ambush around Gibeah.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the sones of Israel settiden buyschementis bi the cumpas of the citee of Gabaa;

Young's Literal Translation
And Israel setteth liers in wait against Gibeah, round about,

Update Bible Version
And Israel set ambushers against Gibeah round about.

Webster's Bible Translation
And Israel set liers in wait around Gibeah.

World English Bible
Israel set liers-in-wait against Gibeah round about.

New King James Version
Then Israel set men in ambush all around Gibeah.

New Living Translation
So the Israelites set an ambush all around Gibeah.

New Life Bible
So Israel sent men to hide around Gibeah.

New Revised Standard
So Israel stationed men in ambush around Gibeah.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And Israel set liers in wait against Gibeah, round about.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the children of Israel set ambushes round about the city of Gabaa:

Revised Standard Version
So Israel set men in ambush round about Gib'e-ah.

THE MESSAGE
This 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.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
So Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah.

Contextual Overview

²⁶The people of Israel went to the place of worship at Bethel, where the sacred chest was being kept. They sat on the ground, crying and not eating for the rest of the day. Then about sunset, they offered sacrifices to please the Lord and to ask his blessing. Phinehas the priest then prayed, "Our Lord , the people of Benjamin are our relatives. Should we stop fighting or attack them again?" "Attack!" the Lord answered. "Tomorrow I will let you defeat them." ²⁹ The Israelites surrounded Gibeah, but stayed where they could not be seen. ³⁰ Then the next day, they took the same positions as twice before, ³¹but this time they had a different plan. They said, "When the men of Benjamin attack, we will run off and let them chase us away from the town and into the country roads." The soldiers of Benjamin attacked the Israelite army and started pushing it back from the town. They killed about thirty Israelites in the fields and along the road between Gibeah and Bethel. The men of Benjamin were thinking, "We're mowing them down like we did before." The Israelites were running away, but they headed for Baal-Tamar, where they regrouped. They had set an ambush, and they were sure it would work. Ten thousand of Israel's best soldiers had been hiding west of Gibeah, and as soon as the men of Benjamin chased the Israelites into the countryside, these ten thousand soldiers made a surprise attack on the town gates. They dashed in and captured Gibeah, killing everyone there. Then they set the town on fire, because the smoke would be the signal for the other Israelite soldiers to turn and attack the soldiers of Benjamin. The fighting had been so heavy around the soldiers of Benjamin, that they did not know the trouble they were in. But then they looked back and saw clouds of smoke rising from the town. They looked in front and saw the soldiers of Israel turning to attack. This terrified them, because they realized that something horrible was happening. And it was horrible—over twenty-five thousand soldiers of Benjamin died that day, and those who were left alive knew that the Lord had given Israel the victory. ⁴² The men of Benjamin headed down the road toward the desert, trying to escape from the Israelites. But the Israelites stayed right behind them, keeping up their attack. Men even came out of the nearby towns to help kill the men of Benjamin, ⁴³ who were having to fight on all sides. The Israelite soldiers never let up their attack. They chased and killed the warriors of Benjamin as far as a place directly east of Gibeah, ⁴⁴ until eighteen thousand of these warriors lay dead. ⁴⁵ Some other warriors of Benjamin turned and ran down the road toward Rimmon Rock in the desert. The Israelites killed five thousand of them on the road, then chased the rest until they had killed two thousand more. ⁴⁶ Twenty-five thousand soldiers of Benjamin died that day, all of them experienced warriors. ⁴⁷ Only six hundred of them finally made it into the desert to Rimmon Rock, where they stayed for four months.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Israel: Though God had promised them success, they knew they could expect it only by the use of proper means. Hence they used all prudent precaution, and employed all their military skill.

liers: Judges 20:34, Joshua 8:4, 2 Samuel 5:23

Reciprocal: Joshua 8:2 - lay thee 1 Kings 22:5 - Inquire Nehemiah 4:11 - They shall not

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah. For though they were assured of success and victory, yet they thought proper to make use of means: and though their numbers were very great, they had recourse to art and stratagem, and set an ambush in divers places, much in like manner as Israel did for the men of Ai; the two cases being pretty much similar; this ambush was set in the night, as Josephus says s,

s Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2.) sect. 11.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The stratagem described is exactly that by which Joshua took Ai (marginal reference).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 20:29. Israel set liers in wait — Though God had promised them success, they knew they could expect it only in the use of the proper means. They used all prudent precaution, and employed all their military skill.