Judges 20:43
◄  Judges 20:43  ►
New International Version (©2011)
They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them and easily overran them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east.

New Living Translation (©2007)
The Israelites surrounded the men of Benjamin and chased them relentlessly, finally overtaking them east of Gibeah.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Surrounding the Benjaminites, they pursued them and trod them down from Nohah as far as opposite Gibeah on the east.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
They surrounded Benjamin, pursued them without rest and trod them down opposite Gibeah toward the east.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Thus they inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trode them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sunrising.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
They surrounded the Benjaminites, pursued them, and easily overtook them near Gibeah toward the east.

International Standard Version (©2012)
They surrounded the army of Benjamin, pursuing them ceaselessly until they defeated them near the east-facing border of Gibeah.

NET Bible (©2006)
They surrounded the Benjaminites, chased them from Nohah, and annihilated them all the way to a spot east of Geba.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
They closed in on the men of Benjamin and pursued them without stopping. They overtook them east of Gibeah.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Thus they surrounded the Benjamites, and chased them, and trod them down with ease opposite Gibeah toward the east.

American King James Version
Thus they enclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and stepped them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sun rise.

American Standard Version
They inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trod them down at their resting-place, as far as over against Gibeah toward the sunrising.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And so it was, that they were slain on both sides by the enemies, and there was no rest of their men dying. They fell and were beaten down on the east side of the city Gabaa.

Darby Bible Translation
Cutting down the Benjaminites, they pursued them and trod them down from Nohah as far as opposite Gib'e-ah on the east.

English Revised Version
They enclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trode them down at their resting place, as far as over against Gibeah toward the sunrising.

Webster's Bible Translation
Thus they inclosed the Benjaminites on all sides, and chased them, and trod them down with ease over against Gibeah towards the sun-rising.

World English Bible
They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, [and] trod them down at [their] resting place, as far as over against Gibeah toward the sunrise.

Young's Literal Translation
they have compassed the Benjamites -- they have pursued them -- with ease they have trodden them down till over-against Gibeah, at the sun-rising.

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.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 43. - Thus they inclosed, etc. Another difficult passage, having all the appearance of being a quotation from some poetical description of the battle. The tenses of the verbs and the absence of any conjunctions in the Hebrew makes the diction like that of Judges 5:19. The italic words thus and the two ands ought to be omitted, to give the stately march of the original. "They inclosed, etc.; they chased them; they trod them down," etc. They inclosed seems to refer to the stratagem by which the Benjamites were surrounded by the ambush in their rear and the Israelites in front. Then came the pursuit - "they chased them;" then the massacre - "they trod them down." The three verbs describe the three stages of the battle. With ease. It does not seem possible that the Hebrew word menuchah can have this meaning. It means sometimes a place of rest, and sometimes a state of rest. Taking the latter meaning, the words they trod them into rest may mean they quieted them by crushing them to death under their feet, or in rest may mean unresisting. Some render it unto Menuchah, as if Menuchah was the name of a place, or from Nochah, as the Septuagint does. Others, at the place of rest, i.e. at every place where they halted to rest the enemy was upon them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thus they enclosed the Benjaminites round about,.... Surrounded them on all sides, the army of Israel being posted in different places, and people coming out of all the cities to their assistance. Josephus (a) says, they were forced into, and cooped up, in a hollow place in a valley, so that they could not escape:

and chased them; or "caused to pursue" (b); calling after them a pursuit, crying to one another as they went along, saying, pursue them, pursue them; so Jarchi and Kimchi; which cry, as it inspired the pursuers with zeal, so they pursued with terror:

and trod them down with ease; they making no resistance, being quite dispirited; the Targrim is,"from the house of their rest,''where they took up their rest, and designed to rest that night, but could not, being so closely pursued, and diligently sought after. Some take "menuchah", rendered "ease", to be the name of a place, from or unto which they were pursued and trodden down, see 1 Chronicles 2:52 and so the Septuagint seems to take it for the name of a place, rendering it, "from Noua":

over against Gibeah, towards the sunrising; that is, as Jarchi interprets it, to the east of Gibeah, there was this overthrow and slaughter made.

(a) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 10.) (b) "persequi fecerunt eum", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "vel eos", Vatablus.

Judges 20:43 Parallel Commentaries

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Defeat of the Benjamites
…42Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and them which came out of the cities they destroyed in the middle of them. 43Thus they enclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and stepped them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sun rise. 44And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valor. …

Judges 20:44 Eighteen thousand Benjamites fell, all of them valiant fighters.
Hosea 9:9 They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah. God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.
Hosea 10:9 "Since the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, Israel, and there you have remained. Will not war again overtake the evildoers in Gibeah?