Judges 20:31

The opening sentence follows the pattern of Judges 20:21; Judges 20:25. The remainder of the v.raises difficulties; it is partly repeated in Judges 20:39; the pretence of flight does not come properly till Judges 20:32. Either we may regard as additional glosses they were drawn away from the city(there is no andin the Hebr.), and the topographical note in the high ways, of which … to Gibeah, leaving the statement that the Benjamites began to smite and kill in the open country as on the former occasions (so Moore): or we may retain the words just quoted, and slightly rearrange them on the model of Judges 20:32; Judges 20:39: they were drawn away from the city into the highways, of which … to Gibeah, and they began to smite and kill in the field about thirty men of Israel(so Budde, Nowack, who distinguish three, instead of two versions). The first alternative has the merit of simplicity.

to Gibeah cannot be right, for the Israelites were retreating towards the N., away fromGibeah; the general direction of the two roads must be the same. For Gibeah, therefore, read Gibeon; at a short distance beyond Tell el-Fûl the road branches northwards to Beitîn(Beth-el) and N.W. to el-Jib (Gibeon), 3 m. N.W. of Tell el-Fûl.