What Does Judges 20:13 Mean?
Now therefore give us the men, the sons of worthlessness, who are in Gibeah, so that we may put them to death, and burn the evil out of Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hear and respond to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel:THE KEY
The “put away” after “put them to death” comes from a verb of burning or purging, so execution is named as a communal cleansing.
THE MEANING
You encounter a demand to give the men over for execution, and the killing is named as a way to remove evil from Israel. The men are called “sons of Belial,” a Hebrew label commonly understood as “sons of worthlessness,” while Benjamin’s refusal is cast as refusing to hear and respond to its brothers’ voice. The verse holds the claim of communal cleansing beside the lethal force proposed to achieve it.
THE ROOT
וּנְבַעֲרָה
u-nevaʿarah
GROWS FROM
ב־ע־ר
b-ʿ-r
Burn or consume; in an intensive form, clear away or purge.
“burn the evil out” in this verse is u-nevaʿarah. The verb carries the force of burning or clearing, giving “put away evil” a sharper edge than simple removal. Here that purging language follows the explicit demand to put the men to death.
ALSO GROWS
baʿar: Burn, consume.
בָּעַר
This basic sense remains beneath the language of removing evil from Israel.
biʿēr: Clear away, purge.
בִּעֵר
This form appears in the recurring phrase for putting evil away, including Deuteronomy 17:7.
וְנִתְּנוּ
ve-nittenū
GROWS FROM
נ־ת־ן
n-t-n
Give, set, place.
“give” in this verse is ve-nittenū. The request translated “deliver us” uses the language of giving: the men are to be handed over to the speakers. That transfer is placed directly beside the stated intention to kill them.
ALSO GROWS
natan: Give, set, place.
נָתַן
This is the verb beneath the request to hand the men over.
mattanah: Gift, present.
מַתָּנָה
This related noun shows the same root’s sense of something given or transferred.
לִשְׁמֹעַ
lishmoaʿ
GROWS FROM
ש־מ־ע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen; where obedience is implied, hear and respond.
“hear and respond” in this verse is lishmoaʿ. Benjamin’s refusal is described through a word that joins hearing with response. The verse makes clear that the issue is not sound reaching the ear, but whether the brothers answer the demand, and what that demand requires.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear, listen, heed; hear and respond when obedience is implied.
שָׁמַע
This verb names Benjamin’s refusal to answer the brothers’ voice.
shemuʿah: Report, tidings; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This noun keeps the root’s connection to what is heard, while the verse turns attention to the response that follows.
THE PATTERN
Hearing in scripture carries the weight of response, yet the voice being answered remains part of the moral question.
Hear and respond, O Israel. The LORD our God is one LORD.And Samuel said, Does the LORD delight in rising offerings and slaughtered offerings as much as in hearing and responding to the voice of the LORD? Behold, hearing and responding is better than a slaughtered offering; to prick the ear is better than the fat of rams.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall burn the evil out from your midst.The same ב־ע־ר root appears in the phrase “put the evil away” after a death sentence. It reveals the purging language in Judges as a communal formula whose force is lethal here as well.
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