Judges 21:16-18

21:16 The leaders ¹  of the assembly said, “How can we find wives for those who are left? ²  After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out. 21:17 The ³  remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out. ⁴  21:18 But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, ⁵  for the Israelites took an oath, saying, ‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’ ⁶ 

¹ tn Or “elders.”

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

³ 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.

⁴ 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?”

⁵ tn Heb “But we are not able to give to them wives from our daughters.”

⁶ tn Heb “is cursed.”