Look! All of you are children of Israel; give your advice and counsel here and now!”
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, you children of Israel, all of you, give here your advice and counsel.”
- KJV Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel.
- BSB Behold, all you Israelites, give your advice and verdict here and now.”
- NASB Behold, all you sons of Israel, give your response and advice here.”
- NLT Now then, all of you—the entire community of Israel—must decide here and now what should be done about this!”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Levite calls on all Israel to give counsel and decide what to do. The matter is placed before the whole assembly for judgment.
Overview
He invites the gathered tribes to deliberate and render a verdict. The appeal to collective counsel reflects a desire for united action against the crime. It moves the assembly toward the demand for justice that follows.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Judg 19:30It was so, that all who saw it said, “Such a deed has not been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day! Consider it, take counsel, and speak.”
- 1 Cor 5:10–12yet not at all meaning with the sexual sinners of this world, or with the covetous and extortionists, or with idolaters; for then you would have to leave the world.
- Josh 9:14The men sampled their provisions, and didn’t ask counsel from Yahweh’s mouth.
- Deut 4:6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who shall hear all these statutes, and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
- 1 Cor 5:6Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump?
- 1 Cor 5:1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife.
- Prov 24:6for by wise guidance you wage your war; and victory is in many advisors.
- Prov 20:18Plans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war!
- Deut 14:1–2You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
- Jas 1:5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
- Exod 19:5–6Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 20:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.