Judges 20:39 — Compare Translations

28 translations compared side by side

English (YLT) 1898 Young's Literal Translation by Robert Young

And the men of Israel turn in battle, and Benjamin hath begun to smite the wounded among the men of Israel, about thirty men, for they said, `Surely they are utterly smitten before us, as [at] the first battle;

English ASV

And the men of Israel turned in the battle, and 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.

English Amplified

The men of Israel should all turn back in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to smite and kill some of the men of Israel, about thirty persons. They said, Surely they are falling before us as in the first battle.

English Amplified Classic Bible 1987

English Berean Standard Bible (BSB) 2025

the men of Israel would turn in the battle. When the Benjamites had begun to strike them down, killing about thirty men of Israel, they said, “They are defeated before us as in the first battle.”

English CSB 2017 - Christian Standard Bible

the men of Israel would return to the battle. When Benjamin had begun to strike them down, killing about thirty men of Israel, they said, “They’re defeated before us, just as they were in the first battle.”

English Darby 1890 : Public Domain

And when the men of Israel turned back in the battle, Benjamin began to smite, slaying of the men of Israel about thirty men; for they said, Surely they are quite routed before us as in the first battle.

English EASY 2024

Then the other Israelite soldiers would turn round to attack the soldiers who were chasing them. Benjamin's soldiers had begun to kill the Israelites. When they had killed about 30 of them, they said, ‘Look! We are winning again, as we always do!’

English ERV 2006 - Only For Website

The army of Benjamin had killed about 30 Israelite soldiers. So the men of Benjamin were saying, "We are winning, as before." But then a big cloud of smoke began to rise from the city. The men of Benjamin turned around and saw the smoke. The whole city was on fire. Then the army of Israel stopped running away. They turned around and began to fight. The men of Benjamin were afraid because they knew that a terrible thing had happened to them.

the men of Israel should turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about thirty men of Israel. They said, "Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle."

English GNT (Good News Translation)

the Israelites out on the battlefield were to turn around. By this time the Benjaminites had already killed the thirty Israelites. They told themselves, “Yes, we've beaten them just as before.”

English God's Word - GW 1995

Then the men of Israel would turn around in the battle. The men of Benjamin had already killed about 30 men of Israel. They even said, "Israel is completely defeated, just like in the first battle."

English HCSB 2004 - Copyrighted Only For Website

the men of Israel would return to the battle. When Benjamin had begun to strike them down, killing about 30 men of Israel, they said, "They're defeated before us, just as they were in the first battle."

English KJV 1611

And 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.

English LSB

So the men of Israel had turned around in the battle, and Benjamin had begun to strike and slay about thirty men of Israel, for they said, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.”

English MEV 2014 (Modern English Version)

the Israelites would turn around in battle. When the Benjamites had begun to strike the Israelites down, about thirty men, they said, “Surely they are struck down before us like at the beginning.”

English NASB (New American Standard Bible - NASB 1995)

Then the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill about thirty men of Israel, for they said, "Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle."

English NASU 1989 - New American Standard Update - Only for Website

And though the men of Benjamin had begun by killing off some thirty of the men of Israel, under the impression that they were defeating them as surely as in the earlier fighting, the Israelites wheeled about to resist

English NET Bible - 2005 (New English Translation)

the Israelites counterattacked. Benjamin had begun to strike down the Israelites; they struck down about thirty men. They said, “There’s no doubt about it! They are totally defeated as in the earlier battle.”

English NIRV 1996 - Copyrighted only for Website

Then the men of Israel would turn around and attack. The men of Benjamin had begun to wound and kill the men of Israel. They had struck down about 30 of them. They had said, "We're winning the battle over them, just as we did the first time."

English NIV

and then the men of Israel would turn in the battle. The Benjamites had begun to inflict casualties on the men of Israel (about thirty), and they said, "We are defeating them as in the first battle."

English NKJ 1982

whereupon the men of Israel would turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about thirty of the men of Israel. For they said, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.”

English NLT

which was the signal for the Israelites to turn and attack Benjamin's warriors. By that time Benjamin's warriors had killed about thirty Israelites, and they shouted, "We're defeating them as we did in the first battle!"

English NRSV 1989 - Only for website

the main body of Israel should turn in battle. But Benjamin had begun to inflict casualties on the Israelites, killing about thirty of them; so they thought, "Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle."

English Passion Translation Bible 2020

and when the men of Israel saw the smoke signal, they would turn and rejoin the battle. When the Benjamites had inflicted about thirty casualties on the men of Israel, they said, “Look, we are defeating them as we did in the first battle!”

English RSV (Revised Standard Version)

the men of Israel should turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to smite and kill about thirty men of Israel; they said, “Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle.”

English TL (The Living Bible) (1971)

The great cloud of smoke pouring into the sky was the signal for the Israeli army to turn around and attack the army of Benjamin,

English Tyndale 1537

And the men of Israel fled in the battle. And Benjamin began to smite dead of the children of Israel, about a thirty persons, for they supposed that the other had been put to the worse before them, as in the first battle.