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Judges 20:1–11, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Judges 20:1–11
Israel assembles around the Levite's selective testimony
All Israel gathers, and Benjamin hears from outside
All the children of Israel go out, the congregation assembled as one man from Dan to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpah. The chief of all the people, even of all the tribes, present themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that draw sword. The children of Benjamin hear that the children of Israel are gone up to Mizpah. The coalition's unity is already a military fact before the accused tribe is in the council.
The Levite tells a true crime and hides his own hand
The Israelites ask how this wickedness came to be. The Levite, the murdered woman's husband, answers: he came into Gibeah of Benjamin to lodge; the men of Gibeah rose against him and beset the house round about upon him by night; they thought to have slain him; they forced his concubine, and she is dead. He took her and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout the country of Israel's inheritance, for they had committed lewdness and folly in Israel. Behold, all you children of Israel, give here your advice and counsel.
Gibeah's crime is real. So is his editing. Chapter 19 showed a demand to rape him, not only to kill him, and it showed him seizing the woman and putting her out. He does not mention the host's offer of two women. Passive verbs now cover his agency. Graphic remains and a religious assembly are already organizing force.
They rise as one man against Gibeah
The people arise as one man and say that no one will go to his tent or house. They will take ten men of a hundred, a hundred of a thousand, a thousand of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people, that they may do when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin according to all the folly they have wrought in Israel. All the men of Israel are gathered against the city, knit together as one man.
Outrage at rape and murder is warranted. Unreviewed unity around an implicated witness is not the same as justice. The woman's body has become the coalition's exhibit.
How this should shape us
Answer real harm without letting the person who controlled the victim's body control the facts. Compare testimony with what others saw, disclose the reporter's own acts, and keep the dead woman's dignity from becoming a prop for immediate war.
Teach it back
Explain Judges 20:1–11 in your own words. Include its scene movement, one source-supported detail, one material uncertainty, and one conclusion or imitation the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Readers differ over whether the Levite lies, compresses, or speaks from self-preservation. Comparison with 19:25 makes his omission of handing her over certain, though the mob's crime remains real.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Judges 20:1–11, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clause relationships, repeated terms, wordplays, and translation control.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Judg.xml, 20:1–11
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, poetic, geographical, social, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Judges PDF, printed pp. 485-488, translation and notes on 20:1–11
Supports: Recent whole-book literary organization, differentiated judge portraits, progressive decline, Abimelech, Samson, and the double epilogue within the limits of preview access.
Assis, Before There Were Kings, inspected contents and exposed summaries for the relevant literary section, printed pp. 341-402
Supports: Compositional alternatives, rhetorical relationships among prologue, central narratives, and epilogues, and the material YHWH-kingship alternative for the no-king refrain.
Wong, Compositional Strategy of the Book of Judges, University of Edinburgh repository abstract and chapter descriptions
Supports: The unnamed woman's exploitation, the host's and Levite's complicity, the Levite's selective retelling, and survivor-centered reading of chapters 19-21.
Pitts, 'Judges 19 as a Paradigm for Understanding and Responding to Human Trafficking,' complete 2023 reprint, PDF pp. 5-8
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Judges 20:1–11, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Judges
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clause relationships, repeated terms, wordplays, and translation control.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Judg.xml, 20:1–11
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Judges with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, poetic, geographical, social, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Judges PDF, printed pp. 485-488, translation and notes on 20:1–11
Open source ↗modern scholarly monograph preview
Before There Were Kings: A Literary Analysis of the Book of Judges
Elie Assis
Penn State University Press / Eisenbrauns, 2024
Supports: Recent whole-book literary organization, differentiated judge portraits, progressive decline, Abimelech, Samson, and the double epilogue within the limits of preview access.
Exact location: Assis, Before There Were Kings, inspected contents and exposed summaries for the relevant literary section, printed pp. 341-402
Open source ↗doctoral thesis repository record
Compositional Strategy of the Book of Judges: An Inductive, Rhetorical Study
Gregory T. K. Wong
University of Edinburgh, 2005
Supports: Compositional alternatives, rhetorical relationships among prologue, central narratives, and epilogues, and the material YHWH-kingship alternative for the no-king refrain.
Exact location: Wong, Compositional Strategy of the Book of Judges, University of Edinburgh repository abstract and chapter descriptions
Open source ↗modern scholarly pastoral article
Judges 19 as a Paradigm for Understanding and Responding to Human Trafficking
Chuck Pitts
Priscilla Papers 29.4; reprinted in 37.1, 2015; reprint 2023
Supports: The unnamed woman's exploitation, the host's and Levite's complicity, the Levite's selective retelling, and survivor-centered reading of chapters 19-21.
Exact location: Pitts, 'Judges 19 as a Paradigm for Understanding and Responding to Human Trafficking,' complete 2023 reprint, PDF pp. 5-8
Open source ↗