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Journey of a Passage

Judges 20:15, 35, 46

How many Benjaminites?

The Hebrew counts 26,000 Benjaminite swordsmen plus 700 of Gibeah; the library's Greek 23,000; the Vulgate 25,000. All agree that 25,100 fell (20:35) and 600 escaped. The figures are shown as they stand.

Read Judges 20:15, 35, 46 in every edition

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original JudgesUnknown (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Judges
Greek
  1. Septuagint (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of the 2nd century BC
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

The arithmetic

Hebrew
26,700 − 25,100 = 1,600, but only 600 survive (20:47).
Vulgate
25,000 + 700 − 25,100 = 600: the numbers balance.
Library's Greek
23,000 + 700 is fewer than the 25,100 who fell.
Interpretation
Jerome's 25,000 may be a harmonization, or may preserve an earlier reading.

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Judges

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the 2nd century BC

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    vingt-trois mille combattants, outre les habitants de Gabaa… sept cents (20:15–16)

    twenty-three thousand fighters, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah… seven hundred

    Also calls the 700 "ambidextrous." One Greek text via Giguet's French; Greek A and B not checked separately.

  3. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    viginti quinque millia de Benjamin educentium gladium, præter habitatores Gabaa (20:15)

    twenty-five thousand of Benjamin who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah

    25,000, which matches the total fallen in 20:46.

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Judges

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    עֶשְׂרִים וְשִׁשָּׁה אֶלֶף אִישׁ שֹׁלֵף חָרֶב לְבַד מִיֹּשְׁבֵי הַגִּבְעָה… שְׁבַע מֵאוֹת

    twenty-six thousand men drawing the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah… seven hundred

    20:35: 25,100 fallen; 20:46: 25,000.

  5. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    twenty and six thousand men that drew sword

    Follows the Hebrew.

What changed, and why

Numbers are especially vulnerable in copying. The site does not choose a figure; it reports what each witness says.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe Hebrew, library's Greek and Vulgate differ in 20:15. One Greek text via Giguet's French; Greek A and B not checked separately.

Sources

  • E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)

Related lessons

  • Civil War Against Benjamin →All Israel gathers at Mizpah. The Levite tells his version. Benjamin refuses to hand over the men of Gibeah, and Israel attacks. Twice they ask God and are defeated with heavy losses; the third time, at Bethel with Phinehas, an ambush takes Gibeah. Benjamin is nearly wiped out; 600 men escape to the rock of Rimmon.
  • Journey of a Passage: Ancient Judges Texts →A guide to the passages in Judges where ancient copies and translations differ, or where the difference is between two compositions rather than two copies. Each has its own passage page with the witnesses laid out side by side.