^20:44Eighteen thousand Benjaminites, all of them capable warriors, fell dead. ^20:45The rest⁸⁵ turned and ran toward the wilderness, heading toward the cliff of Rimmon. But the Israelites⁸⁶ caught⁸⁷ five thousand of them on the main roads. They stayed right on their heels⁸⁸ all the way to Gidom and struck down two thousand more. ^20:46That day twenty-five thousand⁸⁹ sword-wielding Benjaminites fell in battle, all of them capable warriors.⁹⁰^20:47Six hundred survivors turned and ran away to the wilderness, to the cliff of Rimmon. They stayed there four months.

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Footnotes

85 Heb “they”; the referent (the rest [of the Benjaminites]) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
86 Heb “and they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
87 Heb “gleaned.” The word is an agricultural term which pictures Israelites picking off the Benjaminites as easily as one picks grapes from the vine.
88 Heb “stuck close after them.”
89 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 [], ) 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.
90 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.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell, all of them men of valor. And they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon. Five thousand men of them were cut down in the highways. And they were pursued hard to Gidom, and 2,000 men of them were struck down. So all who fell that day of Benjamin were 25,000 men who drew the sword, all of them men of valor. But 600 men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and remained at the rock of Rimmon four months.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Eighteen thousand Benjamites fell, all of them valiant fighters. As they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, the Israelites cut down five thousand men along the roads. They kept pressing after the Benjamites as far as Gidom and struck down two thousand more.

On that day twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell, all of them valiant fighters. But six hundred of them turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

There were eighteen thousand men who died from Benjamin; all were warriors. Then Benjamin turned and fled toward the wilderness to Rimmon Rock, and Israel killed five thousand men on the highways. They overtook them at Gidom and struck two thousand more dead.

All the Benjaminites who died that day were twenty-five thousand armed men; all were warriors. But six hundred men escaped into the wilderness to Rimmon Rock and stayed there four months.

NLTNew Living Translation

That day 18,000 of Benjamin’s strongest warriors died in battle. The survivors fled into the wilderness toward the rock of Rimmon, but Israel killed 5,000 of them along the road. They continued the chase until they had killed another 2,000 near Gidom.

So that day the tribe of Benjamin lost 25,000 strong warriors armed with swords, leaving only 600 men who escaped to the rock of Rimmon, where they lived for four months.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And eighteen thousand men from Benjamin fell, all of them able men. And they turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, but they cut down on the main roads five thousand men; and they pursued after them up to Gidom, and they struck down two thousand men. So all of Benjamin who fell on that day were twenty-five thousand sword-wielding men; all of these were able men. But six hundred turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, and they remained at the rock of Rimmon for four months.

KJV 1900King James Version

And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valour. And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them. So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour. But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months.

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