Verse Lens · Context pointer

Judges 20:14 Explained in Context

Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.

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Verse 14. But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Role in This Section

This verse gathers Benjamin's towns at Gibeah for intertribal battle.

Read It With

  • Judges 20:12–17

Read Judges 20:12–17 together. This verse gathers Benjamin's towns at Gibeah for intertribal battle. Israel's tribal demand for the perpetrators, Benjamin's refusal, Benjaminite and Gibeah force totals and elite left-handed description, and Israel's opposing total form the failed accountability and mobilization; verse 18 begins Israel's inquiry and battle.

Read Judges 20:12–17 together

Why these verses belong together: Israel's tribal demand for the perpetrators, Benjamin's refusal, Benjaminite and Gibeah force totals and elite left-handed description, and Israel's opposing total form the failed accountability and mobilization; verse 18 begins Israel's inquiry and battle.

Verse 12. And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you?

Verse 13. Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel:

Verse 14. But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

Verse 15. And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

Verse 16. Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.

Verse 17. And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.

Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read Judges 20:12–17 — Benjamin shields Gibeah and both sides mobilize
Sources used for this context pointer

How certain is this explanation? strong

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

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 20:12–17, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

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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, 20:12–17

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