Judges 21:1-8

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.” 21:8 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. ⁹ 

[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?”

[21:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “Look, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.”