Judges 20:38
◄  Judges 20:38  ►
New International Version (©2011)
The Israelites had arranged with the ambush that they should send up a great cloud of smoke from the city,

New Living Translation (©2007)
They had arranged to send up a large cloud of smoke from the town as a signal.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in the main ambush was that when they made a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise from the city.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
The men of Israel had a prearranged signal with the men in ambush: when they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city,

International Standard Version (©2012)
Meanwhile, the army of Israel had arranged to signal their soldiers who had been hiding in ambush by sending up a cloud of smoke from the city.

NET Bible (©2006)
The Israelites and the men hiding in ambush had arranged a signal. When the men hiding in ambush sent up a smoke signal from the city,

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
The men of Israel had arranged with those waiting in ambush that they would make a big column of smoke rise from the city as a signal.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the men in ambush, that they should make a great flame with smoke rising up out of the city.

American King James Version
Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city.

American Standard Version
Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers-in-wait was, that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Now the children of Israel had given a sign to them, whom they had laid in ambushes, that after they had taken the city, they should make a fire: that by the smoke rising on high, they might shew that the city was taken.

Darby Bible Translation
Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that when they made a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city

English Revised Version
Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait was, that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.

Webster's Bible Translation
Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke to rise from the city.

World English Bible
Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambushers was that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.

Young's Literal Translation
And there was the appointed sign to the men of Israel with the ambush -- their causing to go up a great volume of smoke from the city.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:7-13 Micah thought it was a sign of God's favour to him and his images, that a Levite should come to his door. Thus those who please themselves with their own delusions, if Providence unexpectedly bring any thing to their hands that further them in their evil way, are apt from thence to think that God is pleased with them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait,.... Or an appointed time (z) as the Targum; so Kimchi and Abarbinel. There was a time fixed, at which the men of Israel proposed to be at Baaltamar, exactly when the Benjaminites would be drawn at a proper distance from the city, and then the liers in wait were to break forth, and rush upon it, and enter it:

and that they should make a great flame with smoke to rise up out of the city; set it on fire, and cause the fire to burn fiercely, that there might be a large ascent of flame and smoke to be seen afar off; which, when the men of Israel saw, they would know the city was taken.

(z) "tempus constitutum", Panginus, Montanus, Junius et Tremellius, Piscator.

Judges 20:38 Parallel Commentaries

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Defeat of the Benjamites
…37And the liers in wait hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; and the liers in wait drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword. 38Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city. 39And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle. …

Joshua 8:13 So the soldiers took up their positions--with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.
Joshua 8:20 The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers.