³⁹ the main body of Israel should turn in battle. But Benjamin had begun to inflict casualties on the Israelites, killing about thirty of them, so they thought, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.”^(A)

² They were archers and could shoot arrows and sling stones with either the right hand or the left; they were Benjaminites, Saul’s kindred.^(A)