Bible verse

Judges 20:38

The men of Israel had arranged a signal with the men in ambush: When they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city,

Judges 20:38 · BSB

Judges 20:38 in context

The verses around it, from Judges 20.

34 Then 10,000 select men from all Israel made a frontal assault against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjamites did not realize that disaster was upon them.

35 The LORD defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords.

36 Then the Benjamites realized they had been defeated. Now the men of Israel had retreated before Benjamin because they were relying on the ambush they had set against Gibeah.

37 The men in ambush rushed suddenly against Gibeah; they advanced and put the whole city to the sword.

38 The men of Israel had arranged a signal with the men in ambush: When they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city,

39 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.”

40 But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, the Benjamites looked behind them and saw the whole city going up in smoke.

41 Then the men of Israel turned back on them, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had come upon them.

42 So they fled before the men of Israel toward the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and the men coming out of the cities struck them down there.

Read all of Judges 20

Judges 20:38 in other translations

KJV

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.

ASV

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.

ERV

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.

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Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible, which is free of copyright restrictions for use on websites. Read the full Bible on Great Faith.