Judges 21:16-24

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  21:19 However, there is an annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel ⁷  (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. ⁸  When you see ⁹  the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration, ¹⁰  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, ¹¹  we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be, ¹²  for we could not get each one a wife through battle. ¹³  Don’t worry about breaking your oath! ¹⁴  You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’” ¹⁵ 

21:23 The Benjaminites did as instructed. ¹⁶  They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives. ¹⁷  They went home ¹⁸  to their own territory, ¹⁹  rebuilt their cities, and settled down. ²⁰  21:24 Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property. ²¹ 

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.”

⁷ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

⁹ tn Heb “and look.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and look, when.”

¹¹ tn Heb “in the dances.”

¹¹ tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.”

¹² tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹³ tn Heb “for we did not take each his wife in battle.”

¹⁴ tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.

¹⁵ 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.

¹³ tn Heb “did so.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “And they took wives according to their number from the dancing girls whom they abducted.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “went and returned.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “inheritance.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “and lived in them.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “his inheritance.”