Text -- Judges 21:20-25 (NET)

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. 21:24 Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property. 21:25 In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

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.”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:24

¹ tn Heb “his inheritance.”

NET Notes: Jdg 21:25

¹ 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.