Judges 21:1-7

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 ¹  and sat there before God until evening, weeping loudly and uncontrollably. ²  21:3 They said, “Why, O Lord God of Israel, has this happened in Israel?” An entire ³  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. ⁴  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. ⁵  21:6 The Israelites regretted what had happened to ⁶  their brother Benjamin. They said, “Today we cut off an entire ⁷  tribe from Israel! 21:7 How can we find wives for those who are left? ⁸  After all, we took an oath in the Lord’s name not to give them our daughters as wives.”

[21:2]  ¹ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[21:2]  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.

[21:3]  ³ tn Heb “one.”

[21:4]  ⁴ tn Or “peace offerings.”

[21:5]  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.’”

[21:6]  ⁶ tn Or “felt sorry for.”

[21:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “cut off one.”

[21:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “What should we do for them, for the remaining ones, concerning wives?”