The Meaning of Judges 20:34 Explained

Judges 20:34

KJV: And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near them.

YLT: And they come in over against Gibeah -- ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel -- and the battle is grievous, and they have not known that the evil is striking against them.

Darby: And there came against Gib'e-ah ten thousand picked men out of all Israel, and the battle was hard; but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was close upon them.

ASV: And there came over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore; but they knew not that evil was close upon them.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And there came  against  Gibeah  ten  thousand  chosen  men  out of all Israel,  and the battle  was sore:  but they knew  not that evil  [was] near  them. 

What does Judges 20:34 Mean?

Chapter Summary: Judges 20

1  The Levite in a general assembly declared his wrong
8  The decree of the assembly
12  The Benjamites, being cited, make head against the Israelites
18  The Israelites in two battles lose forty thousand
26  They destroy by a plan all the Benjamites, except six hundred

What do the individual words in Judges 20:34 mean?

And came against against Gibeah ten thousand men select from all Israel and the battle was fierce but they [the Benjamites] not did know that upon them disaster [was] -
וַיָּבֹאוּ֩ מִנֶּ֨גֶד לַגִּבְעָ֜ה עֲשֶׂרֶת֩ אֲלָפִ֨ים אִ֤ישׁ בָּחוּר֙ מִכָּל־ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְהַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה כָּבֵ֑דָה וְהֵם֙ לֹ֣א יָדְע֔וּ כִּֽי־ נֹגַ֥עַת עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם הָרָעָֽה פ

וַיָּבֹאוּ֩  And  came 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: בֹּוא 
Sense: to go in, enter, come, go, come in.
מִנֶּ֨גֶד  against 
Parse: Preposition-m
Root: נֶגֶד  
Sense: what is conspicuous, what is in front of adv.
לַגִּבְעָ֜ה  against  Gibeah 
Parse: Preposition-l, Article, Proper Noun, feminine singular
Root: גִּבְעָה  
Sense: a city in the mountain district of Judah.
עֲשֶׂרֶת֩  ten 
Parse: Number, masculine singular construct
Root: עֶשֶׂר 
Sense: ten.
אֲלָפִ֨ים  thousand 
Parse: Number, masculine plural
Root: אֶלֶף 
Sense: a thousand.
אִ֤ישׁ  men 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אִישׁ 
Sense: man.
בָּחוּר֙  select 
Parse: Verb, Qal, QalPassParticiple, masculine singular
Root: בָּחוּר 
Sense: youth, young man.
מִכָּל־  from  all 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: כֹּל  
Sense: all, the whole.
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל  Israel 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יִשְׂרָאֵל  
Sense: the second name for Jacob given to him by God after his wrestling with the angel at Peniel.
וְהַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה  and  the  battle 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Article, Noun, feminine singular
Root: מִלְחָמָה  
Sense: battle, war.
כָּבֵ֑דָה  was  fierce 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person feminine singular
Root: כָּבֵד  
Sense: to be heavy, be weighty, be grievous, be hard, be rich, be honourable, be glorious, be burdensome, be honoured.
וְהֵם֙  but  they  [the  Benjamites] 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Pronoun, third person masculine plural
Root: הֵם 
Sense: they, these, the same, who.
יָדְע֔וּ  did  know 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: דָּעָה 
Sense: to know.
כִּֽי־  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: כִּי 
Sense: that, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since.
נֹגַ֥עַת  upon 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, feminine singular
Root: נָגַע  
Sense: to touch, reach, strike.
הָרָעָֽה  disaster  [was] 
Parse: Article, Adjective, feminine singular
Root: רַע 
Sense: bad, evil.
פ  - 
Parse: Punctuation