^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. ^20:48The Israelites returned to the Benjaminite towns⁹¹ and put the sword to them. They wiped out the cities,⁹² the animals, and everything they could find. They set fire to every city in their path.⁹³

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Footnotes

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.
91 Heb “to the sons of Benjamin.”
92 The translation is based on the reading מֵעִיר מְתִים (me’ir métim, “from a city of men,” i.e., “an inhabited city”), rather than the reading מֵעִיר מְתֹם (me’ir métom, “from a city of soundness”) found in the Leningrad Codex (L).
93 Heb “Also all the cities that were found they set on fire.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

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. And the men of Israel turned back against the people of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, the city, men and beasts and all that they found. And all the towns that they found they set on fire.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

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. The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

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. The men of Israel turned back against the other Benjaminites and killed them with their swords—the entire city, the animals, and everything that remained. They also burned all the cities that remained.

NLTNew Living Translation

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. And the Israelites returned and slaughtered every living thing in all the towns—the people, the livestock, and everything they found. They also burned down all the towns they came to.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

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. And the men of Israel returned to the descendants of Benjamin, and they put them to the edge of the sword, both the inhabitants of the city and the animals that were found; they also set on fire all the cities that they found.

KJV 1900King James Version

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. And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

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