Text -- Judges 21:1-23 (NET)

600 Brides for 600 Brothers

21:1 The Israelites had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, “Not one of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite.” 21:2 So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, weeping loudly and uncontrollably. 21:3 They said, “Why, O Lord God of Israel, has this happened in Israel?” An entire tribe has disappeared from Israel today!” 21:4 The next morning the people got up early and built an altar there. They offered up burnt sacrifices and token of peace. 21:5 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. 21:6 The Israelites regretted what had happened to their brother Benjamin. They said, “Today we cut off an entire tribe from Israel! 21:7 How can we find wives for those who are left? After all, we took an oath in the Lord’s name not to give them our daughters as wives.” 21:8 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. 21:9 When they took roll call, they noticed none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead were there. 21:10 So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors against Jabesh Gilead. They commanded them, “Go and kill with your swords the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children. 21:11 Do this: exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has had sexual relations with a male. But spare the lives of any virgins.” So they did as instructed. 21:12 They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young girls who were virgins– they had never had sexual relations with a male. They brought them back to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan. 21:13 The entire assembly sent messengers to the Benjaminites at the cliff of Rimmon and assured them they would not be harmed. 21:14 The Benjaminites returned at that time, and the Israelites gave to them the women they had spared from Jabesh Gilead. But there were not enough to go around. 21:15 The people regretted what had happened to Benjamin because the Lord had weakened the Israelite tribes. 21:16 The leaders of the assembly said, “How can we find wives for those who are left? After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out. 21:17 The remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out. 21:18 But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, for the Israelites took an oath, saying, ‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’ 21:19 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.” 21:20 So they commanded the Benjaminites, “Go hide in the vineyards, 21:21 and keep your eyes open. When you see the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration, 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. 21:22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be, for we could not get each one a wife through battle. Don’t worry about breaking your oath! You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’” 21:23 The Benjaminites did as instructed. They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives. They went home to their own territory, rebuilt their cities, and settled down.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Jdg 21:2

¹ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

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.

NET Notes: Jdg 21:3

¹ tn Heb “one.”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:4

¹ tn Or “peace offerings.”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:5

¹ 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.’”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:6

¹ tn Or “felt sorry for.”

² tn Heb “cut off one.”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:7

¹ tn Heb “What should we do for them, for the remaining ones, concerning wives?”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:8

¹ tn Heb “Look, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:9

¹ tn Or “when the people were mustered.”

² tn Heb “and look.”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:10

¹ tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

² tn Heb “there.”

³ tn Heb “the edge of the sword.”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:11

¹ tn Heb “And this is the thing that you will do.”

² tn Heb “every woman who is familiar with the bed of a male.”

³ 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 (ve’et-habbÿtulot tÿkhayyu vayya’asu khen). It is likely that a scribe’s eye jumped from the vav (ו) on וְאֶת (vÿ’et) to the initial vav of v. 11, accidentally leaving out the intervening letters. The present translation is based on this reconstruction.

NET Notes: Jdg 21:12

¹ tn Heb “who had not known a man with respect to the bed of a male.”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:13

¹ 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.”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:14

¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “but they did not find for them enough.”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:15

¹ tn Or “felt sorry for.”

² tn Heb “had made a gaping hole in.” The narrator uses imagery that compares Israel to a wall that has been breached.

NET Notes: Jdg 21:16

¹ tn Or “elders.”

² tn Heb “What should we do for the remaining ones concerning wives?”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:17

¹ 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.

² 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?”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:18

¹ tn Heb “But we are not able to give to them wives from our daughters.”

² tn Heb “is cursed.”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:19

¹ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

NET Notes: Jdg 21:21

¹ tn Heb “and look.”

² tn Heb “and look, when.”

³ tn Heb “in the dances.”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:22

¹ tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.”

² tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

³ 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 four hundred of the six hundred wives needed.

⁴ tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.

⁵ 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 (lo’, “not”) to לוּא (lu’, “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.

NET Notes: Jdg 21:23

¹ tn Heb “did so.”

² tn Heb “And they took wives according to their number from the dancing girls whom they abducted.”

³ tn Heb “went and returned.”

⁴ tn Heb “inheritance.”

⁵ tn Heb “and lived in them.”