Judges 21
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
21 Now the children of Israel had also sworn in Maspha, saying: None of us shall give of his daughters to the children of Benjamin to wife.
2 And they all came to the house of God in Silo, and abiding before him till the evening, lifted up their voices, and began to lament and weep, saying:
3 O Lord God of Israel, why is so great an evil come to pass in thy people, that this day one tribe should be taken away from among us?
4 And rising early the next day, they built an altar: and offered there holocausts, and victims of peace, and they said:
5 Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the army of the Lord? for they had bound themselves with a great oath, when they were in Maspha, that whosoever were wanting should be slain.
6 And the children of Israel being moved with repentance for their brother Benjamin, began to say: One tribe is taken away from Israel.
7 Whence shall they take wives? For we have all in general sworn, not to give our daughters to them.
8 Therefore they said: Who is thereof all the tribes of Israel, that came not up to the Lord to Maspha. And behold the inhabitants of Jabes Galaad were found not to have been in that army.
9 (At that time also when they were in Silo, no one of them was found there.)
10 So they sent ten thousand of the most valiant men, and commanded them, saying: Go and put the inhabitants of Jabes Galaad to the sword, with their wives and their children.
11 And this is what you shall observe: Every male, and all women that have known men, you shall kill, but the virgins you shall save.
12 And there were found of Jabes Galaad four hundred virgins, that had not known the bed of a man, and they brought them to the camp Silo, into the land of Chanaan.
13 And they sent messengers to the children of Benjamin, that were in the rock Remmon, and commanded them to receive them in peace.
14 And the children of Benjamin came at that time, and wives were given them of the daughters of Jabes Galaad: but they found no others, whom they might give in like manner.
15 And all Israel was very sorry, and repented for the destroying of one tribe out of Israel.
16 And the ancients said: What shall we do with the rest, that have not received wives? for all the women in Benjamin are dead.
17 And we must use all care, and provide with great diligence, that one tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.
18 For as to our own daughters we cannot give them, being bound with an oath and a curse, whereby we said: Cursed be he that shall give Benjamin any of his daughters to wife.
19 So they took counsel, and said: Behold there is a yearly solemnity of the Lord in Silo, which is situate on the north of the city of Bethel, and on the east side of the way, that goeth from Bethel to Sichem, and on the south of the town of Lebona.
20 And they commanded the children of Benjamin, and said: Go, and lie hid in the vineyards,
21 And when you shall see the daughters of Silo come out, as the custom is, to dance, come ye on a sudden out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife among them, and go into the land of Benjamin.
22 And when their fathers and their brethren shall come, and shall begin to complain against you, and to chide, we will say to them: Have pity on them for they took them not away as by the right of war or conquest, but when they asked to have them, you gave them not, and the fault was committed on your part.
23 And the children of Benjamin did, as they had been commanded: and according to their number, they carried off for themselves every man his wife of them that were dancing: and they went into their possession and built up their cities, and dwelt in them.
24 The children of Israel also returned by their tribes, and families, to their dwellings. In those days there was no king in Israel: but every one did that which seemed right to himself.
Judges 21
New English Translation
Six Hundred Brides for Six Hundred Brothers
21 The Israelites had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, “Not one of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite.” 2 So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, weeping loudly and uncontrollably.[a] 3 They said, “Why, O Lord God of Israel, has this happened in Israel? An entire[b] tribe has disappeared from Israel today!”
4 The next morning the people got up early and built an altar there. They offered up burnt sacrifices and tokens of peace.[c] 5 The Israelites asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the Lord?”They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah must certainly be executed.[d] 6 The Israelites regretted what had happened to[e] their brother Benjamin. They said, “Today we cut off an entire[f] tribe from Israel! 7 How can we find wives for those who are left?[g] After all, we took an oath in the Lord’s name not to give them our daughters as wives.” 8 So they asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?” Now it just so happened no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the gathering.[h] 9 When they took roll call,[i] they noticed[j] none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead were there. 10 So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors[k] against Jabesh Gilead.[l] They commanded them, “Go and kill with your swords[m] the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children. 11 Do this:[n] Exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has experienced a man’s bed.[o] But spare the lives of any virgins.” So they did as instructed.[p] 12 They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead 400 young girls who were virgins who had never been intimate with a man in bed.[q] They brought them back to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
13 The entire assembly sent messengers to the Benjaminites at the cliff of Rimmon and assured them they would not be harmed.[r] 14 The Benjaminites returned at that time, and the Israelites[s] gave to them the women they had spared from Jabesh Gilead. But there were not enough to go around.[t]
15 The people regretted what had happened to[u] Benjamin because the Lord had weakened[v] the Israelite tribes. 16 The leaders[w] of the assembly said, “How can we find wives for those who are left?[x] After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out. 17 The[y] remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out.[z] 18 But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them,[aa] for the Israelites took an oath, saying, ‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed.’[ab] 19 However, there is an annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel (east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem) and south of Lebonah.” 20 So they commanded the Benjaminites, “Go hide in the vineyards, 21 and keep your eyes open.[ac] When you see[ad] the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration,[ae] jump out from the vineyards. Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin. 22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us,[af] we’ll say to them, ‘Do us a favor and let them be,[ag] for we could not get each one a wife through battle.[ah] Don’t worry about breaking your oath![ai] You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’”[aj]
23 The Benjaminites did as instructed.[ak] They abducted 200 of the dancing girls to be their wives.[al] They went home[am] to their own territory,[an] rebuilt their cities, and settled down.[ao] 24 Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property.[ap] 25 In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.[aq]
Footnotes
- Judges 21:2 tn Heb “and they lifted up their voice[s] and wept with great weeping.” Both the cognate accusative בְּכִי (bekhi, “weeping”) and the attributive adjective גָדוֹל (gadol, “great”) emphasize their degree of sorrow.
- Judges 21:3 tn Heb “one.”
- Judges 21:4 tn Or “peace offerings.”
- Judges 21:5 tn Heb “A great oath there was concerning the one who did not go up before the Lord at Mizpah, saying, ‘He must surely be put to death.’”
- Judges 21:6 tn Or “felt sorry for.”
- Judges 21:6 tn Heb “cut off one.”
- Judges 21:7 tn Heb “What should we do for them, for the remaining ones, concerning wives?”
- Judges 21:8 tn Heb “Look, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.”
- Judges 21:9 tn Or “when the people were mustered.”
- Judges 21:9 tn Heb “and look.”
- Judges 21:10 tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”
- Judges 21:10 tn Heb “there.”
- Judges 21:10 tn Heb “the edge of the sword.”
- Judges 21:11 tn Heb “And this is the thing that you will do.”
- Judges 21:11 tn Heb “a knower of the bed of a male.” The verb יָדָע (yadaʿ) “to know,” “be intimate with,” is used as a euphemism for sexual relations.
- Judges 21:11 tc Some Greek witnesses (notably Codex Vaticanus [B]) add the words, “‘But the virgins you should keep alive.’ And they did so.” These additional words, which probably represent the original Hebrew text, can be retroverted: וְאֶת־הַבְּתוּלוֹת תְּחַיּוּ וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן (veʾet habbetulot tekhayyu vayyaʿasu khen). It is likely that a scribe’s eye jumped from the ו (vav) on וְאֶת (veʾet) to the initial vav of v. 11, accidentally leaving out the intervening letters. The present translation is based on this reconstruction.
- Judges 21:12 tn Heb “who were not knowers of a man by the bed of a male.” The verb יָדַע (yadaʿ) “to know,” or “to be intimate with,” acts as a euphemism for sexual relations, which is further clarified by reference to a man’s bed.
- Judges 21:13 tn Heb “And all the assembly sent and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were at the cliff of Rimmon and they proclaimed to them peace.”
- Judges 21:14 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 21:14 tn Heb “but they did not find for them enough.”
- Judges 21:15 tn Or “felt sorry for.”
- Judges 21:15 tn Heb “had made a gaping hole in.” The narrator uses imagery that compares Israel to a wall that has been breached.
- Judges 21:16 tn Or “elders.”
- Judges 21:16 tn Heb “What should we do for the remaining ones concerning wives?”
- Judges 21:17 tn The Hebrew text has “and they said” at the beginning of the verse. For stylistic reasons the translation treats v. 17 as a continuation of the remarks of the leaders in v. 16.
- Judges 21:17 tn Heb “An inheritance for the remnant belonging to Benjamin, and a tribe from Israel will not be wiped away.” The first statement lacks a verb. Some prefer to emend the text to read, “How can an inheritance remain for the remnant of Benjamin?”
- Judges 21:18 tn Heb “But we are not able to give to them wives from our daughters.”
- Judges 21:18 tn Heb “is cursed.”
- Judges 21:21 tn Heb “and look.”
- Judges 21:21 tn Heb “and look, when.”
- Judges 21:21 tn Heb “in the dances.”
- Judges 21:22 tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.”
- Judges 21:22 tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Judges 21:22 tn Heb “for we did not take each his wife in battle.”sn Through battle. This probably refers to the battle against Jabesh Gilead, which only produced 400 of the 600 wives needed.
- Judges 21:22 tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.
- Judges 21:22 tc Heb “You did not give to them, now you are guilty.” The MT as it stands makes little sense. It is preferable to emend לֹא (loʾ, “not”) to לוּא (luʾ, “if”). This particle introduces a purely hypothetical condition, “If you had given to them [but you didn’t].” See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 453-54.
- Judges 21:23 tn Heb “did so.”
- Judges 21:23 tn Heb “And they took wives according to their number from the dancing girls whom they abducted.”
- Judges 21:23 tn Heb “went and returned.”
- Judges 21:23 tn Heb “inheritance.”
- Judges 21:23 tn Heb “and lived in them.”
- Judges 21:24 tn Heb “his inheritance.”
- Judges 21:25 tn Heb “Each was doing what was right in his [own] eyes.”sn Each man did what he considered to be right. The Book of Judges closes with this note, which summarizes the situation of the Israelite tribes during this period.
Judges 21
New King James Version
Wives Provided for the Benjamites
21 Now (A)the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” 2 Then the people came (B)to [a]the house of God, and remained there before God till evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly, 3 and said, “O Lord God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that today there should be one tribe missing in Israel?”
4 So it was, on the next morning, that the people rose early and (C)built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5 The children of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up with the assembly to the Lord?” (D)For they had made a great oath concerning anyone who had not come up to the Lord at Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” 6 And the children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel today. 7 What shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them our daughters as wives?”
8 And they said, “What one is there from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord?” And, in fact, no one had come to the camp from (E)Jabesh Gilead to the assembly. 9 For when the people were counted, indeed, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead was there. 10 So the congregation sent out there twelve thousand of their most valiant men, and commanded them, saying, (F)“Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and children. 11 And this is the thing that you shall do: (G)You shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has known a man intimately.” 12 So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known a man intimately; and they brought them to the camp at (H)Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13 Then the whole congregation sent word to the children of Benjamin (I)who were at the rock of Rimmon, and announced peace to them. 14 So Benjamin came back at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead; and yet they had not found enough for them.
15 And the people (J)grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a void in the tribes of Israel.
16 Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” 17 And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be destroyed from Israel. 18 However, we cannot give them wives from our daughters, (K)for the children of Israel have sworn an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the one who gives a wife to Benjamin.’ ” 19 Then they said, “In fact, there is a yearly (L)feast of the Lord in (M)Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east side of the (N)highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”
20 Therefore they instructed the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go, lie in wait in the vineyards, 21 and watch; and just when the daughters of Shiloh come out (O)to perform their dances, then come out from the vineyards, and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh; then go to the land of Benjamin. 22 Then it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, that we will say to them, ‘Be kind to them for our sakes, because we did not take a wife for any of them in the war; for it is not as though you have given the women to them at this time, making yourselves guilty of your oath.’ ”
23 And the children of Benjamin did so; they took enough wives for their number from those who danced, whom they caught. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, and they (P)rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them. 24 So the children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family; they went out from there, every man to his inheritance.
25 (Q)In those days there was no king in Israel; (R)everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Footnotes
- Judges 21:2 Or Bethel
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
