Judges Chapter 20 verse 2 Holy Bible
And the chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.
read chapter 20 in ASV
And the chiefs of the people, out of all the tribes of Israel, took their places in the meeting of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen armed with swords.
read chapter 20 in BBE
And the chiefs of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand men on foot that drew the sword.
read chapter 20 in DARBY
And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.
read chapter 20 in KJV
And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.
read chapter 20 in WBT
The chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen who drew sword.
read chapter 20 in WEB
And the chiefs of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, station themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen drawing sword.
read chapter 20 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 2. - The chief. The word here used means the corner-stones of a building. Hence it is applied to the chief men, who, as it were, bind and keep together the whole people. Their presence at this great meeting is mentioned to show that it was a regularly constituted assembly of all Israel. The same phrase occurs 1 Samuel 14:38, and Isaiah 19:13 (the stay of the tribes, A.V.). The numbers (400,000) are of course those of the whole congregation. The assembly of the people of God. So, Numbers 16:3; Numbers 20:4, Israel is called the congregation of the Lord; and Nehemiah 13:1, the congregation of God. Not dissimilar was the first great council of the Church, consisting of the Church (ἡ ἐκελησια) i.e. the assembly of disciples) and the apostles and elders (who were the cornerstones, the lapides angulares, thereof). See Acts 15:4, 6, 12. Four hundred thousand. See ver. 17. The enumeration in the wilderness gave 603,550 (Numbers 2:32; Numbers 11:21), and at the second numbering 601,730 (Numbers 26:51). In 1 Samuel 11:8 a general assembly of the whole people, summoned by sending a piece of the flesh of a yoke of oxen "throughout all the coasts of Israel," amounted to 330,000. David's numbering gave of Israel 800,000, and of Judah 500,000, in all 1,300,000; but these were not assembled together, but numbered at their own homes. Jehoshaphat's men of war amounted to 1,160,000 according to 2 Chronicles 17:14-18. In the time of Amaziah there were of Judah alone 300,000 men able to go forth to war (2 Chronicles 24:6).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) The chief.--The Hebrew word is pinnoth, "corner-stones," as in 1Samuel 14:38; Isaiah 19:13.Four hundred thousand.--Hence we learn the interesting fact that in their struggles against the Canaanites the number of the people had been diminished one-third--i.e., to a far greater extent than they had been diminished by the wanderings in the wilderness. For at the census in the first year of the wanderings their numbers were (including 35,400 of Benjamin) 603,550 (Numbers 1:46); and in the census in the last year they were 601,730, excluding the Benjamites, who, unlike the other tribes, had increased in numbers, for they were then 45,600 in number.Footmen.--The Israelites were forbidden to use either chariots or cavalry. (See Notes on Judges 1:19; Judges 4:3.) . . .
