As the narrative offers the more detailed account of the battle (since Judges 20:36), here it hearkens back to what was noted in Judges 20:33, when the men in ambush first emerge. But as with the expanding that Judges 20:36 did on Judges 20:29, so here the repetition expands on Judges 20:36.1 Once Gibeah was empty of its troops, the ambush moved into the city, slaughtered the population with the sword, and set it ablaze (Judges 20:38). Thus, Judges 20:37–38 also expands on the statement in Judges 20:36 that the men of Israel…trusted the men in ambush.
37 Then the men in ambush hurried and rushed against Gibeah; the men in ambush moved out and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.