And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.
On the second day, the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to fight against them, and killed eighteen thousand more Israelite soldiers, all of them were skilled warriors.
The writer is describing how the tribe of Benjamin successfully defeated the other Israelite tribes again, killing 18,000 soldiers in their second battle.
📚 Historical Context
In the book of Judges, Israel was in a period of moral decline and tribal conflicts without a central king, following the conquest of the Promised Land. The specific events leading to Judges 20 involved a brutal crime in Gibeah, where a Levite's concubine was raped and murdered, prompting the other tribes to demand justice from the tribe of Benjamin, which refused and prepared for war. On the second day of battle, Benjamin's warriors struck again, inflicting heavy losses on the Israelites and killing 18,000 men, illustrating the escalating violence of this internal strife.
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