Judges 21
21
600 Brides for 600 Brothers
1 The Israelites had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, “Not one of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite.” 2 So the people came to Bethel#map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3. and sat there before God until evening, weeping loudly and uncontrollably.#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. 3 They said, “Why, O Lord God of Israel, has this happened in Israel?” An entire#tn Heb “one.” tribe has disappeared from Israel today!”
4 The next morning the people got up early and built an altar there. They offered up burnt sacrifices and token of peace.#tn Or “peace offerings.” 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.#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.’” 6 The Israelites regretted what had happened to#tn Or “felt sorry for.” their brother Benjamin. They said, “Today we cut off an entire#tn Heb “cut off one.” tribe from Israel! 7 How can we find wives for those who are left?#tn Heb “What should we do for them, for the remaining ones, concerning wives?” After all, we took an oath in the Lord’s name not to give them our daughters as wives.” 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.#tn Heb “Look, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.” 9 When they took roll call,#tn Or “when the people were mustered.” they noticed#tn Heb “and look.” none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead were there. 10 So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors#tn Heb “men, sons of strength.” against Jabesh Gilead.#tn Heb “there.” They commanded them, “Go and kill with your swords#tn Heb “the edge of the sword.” the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children. 11 Do this:#tn Heb “And this is the thing that you will do.” exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has had sexual relations with a male.#tn Heb “every woman who is familiar with the bed of a male.” But spare the lives of any virgins.” So they did as instructed.#tc Some Greek witnesses (notably Codex Vaticanus [B]) add the words, “‘But the virgins you should keep alive.’ And they did so.” These additional words, which probably represent the original Hebrew text, can be retroverted: וְאֶת־הַבְּתוּלוֹת תְּחַיּוּ וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן (ve’et-habbÿtulot tÿkhayyu vayya’asu khen). It is likely that a scribe’s eye jumped from the vav (ו) on וְאֶת (vÿ’et) to the initial vav of v. 11, accidentally leaving out the intervening letters. The present translation is based on this reconstruction. 12 They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young girls who were virgins – they had never had sexual relations with a male.#tn Heb “who had not known a man with respect to the bed of a male.” They brought them back to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
13 The entire assembly sent messengers to the Benjaminites at the cliff of Rimmon and assured them they would not be harmed.#tn Heb “And all the assembly sent and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were at the cliff of Rimmon and they proclaimed to them peace.” 14 The Benjaminites returned at that time, and the Israelites#tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity. gave to them the women they had spared from Jabesh Gilead. But there were not enough to go around.#tn Heb “but they did not find for them enough.”
15 The people regretted what had happened to#tn Or “felt sorry for.” Benjamin because the Lord had weakened#tn Heb “had made a gaping hole in.” The narrator uses imagery that compares Israel to a wall that has been breached. the Israelite tribes. 16 The leaders#tn Or “elders.” of the assembly said, “How can we find wives for those who are left?#tn Heb “What should we do for the remaining ones concerning wives?” After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out. 17 The#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. remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out.#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?” 18 But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them,#tn Heb “But we are not able to give to them wives from our daughters.” for the Israelites took an oath, saying, ‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’#tn Heb “is cursed.” 19 However, there is an annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel#map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3. (east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem) and south of Lebonah.” 20 So they commanded the Benjaminites, “Go hide in the vineyards, 21 and keep your eyes open.#tn Heb “and look.” When you see#tn Heb “and look, when.” the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration,#tn Heb “in the dances.” 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. 22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us,#tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.” we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be,#tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification. for we could not get each one a wife through battle.#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. Don’t worry about breaking your oath!#tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement. You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’”#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.
23 The Benjaminites did as instructed.#tn Heb “did so.” They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives.#tn Heb “And they took wives according to their number from the dancing girls whom they abducted.” They went home#tn Heb “went and returned.” to their own territory,#tn Heb “inheritance.” rebuilt their cities, and settled down.#tn Heb “and lived in them.” 24 Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property.#tn Heb “his inheritance.” 25 In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.#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.
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Judges 21
21
1Moreouer, the men of Israel sware in Mizpeh, saying, None of vs shall giue his daughter vnto the Beniamites to wyfe. 2And the people came vnto ye house of God and abode there till euen before God, and lift vp their voyces, and wept with great lamentation, 3And sayde, O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to passe in Israel, that this day one tribe of Israel should want? 4And on the morow the people rose vp and made there an altar, and offred burnt offrings and peace offrings. 5Then the children of Israel said, Who is he among all the tribes of Israel, that came not vp with the Congregation vnto the Lord? for they had made a great othe concerning him that came not vp to the Lord to Mizpeh, saying, Let him die the death. 6And the children of Israel were sory for Beniamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. 7How shall we do for wiues to them that remaine, seeing we haue sworne by the Lord, that we will not giue them of our daughters to wiues? 8Also they saide, Is there any of the tribes of Israel that came not vp to Mizpeh to the Lord? and beholde, there came none of Iabesh Gilead vnto the hoste and to the Congregation. 9For when the people were vewed; beholde, none of the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead were there. 10Therefore the Congregation sent thither twelue thousande men of the most valiant, and commanded them, saying, Goe, and smite the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, both women, and children. 11And this is it that ye shall do: ye shall vtterly destroye all the males and all the women that haue lien by men. 12And they found among the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead foure hundreth maides, virgins that had knowne no man by lying with any male: and they brought them vnto the hoste to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 13Then the whole Congregation sent and spake with the children of Beniamin that were in the rocke of Rimmon, and called peaceably vnto them: 14And Beniamin came againe at that time, and they gaue them wiues which they had saued aliue of the women of Iabesh Gilead: but they had not so ynough for them. 15And the people were sorie for Beniamin, because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. 16Therefore the Elders of the Congregation said, How shall we doe for wiues to the remnant? for the women of Beniamin are destroyed. 17And they saide, there must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Beniamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel. 18Howbeit we may not giue them wiues of our daughters: for the childre of Israel had sworne, saying, Cursed be he that giueth a wise to Beniamin. 19Therefore they said, Beholde, there is a feast of the Lord euery yere in Shiloh in a place, which is on the Northside of Beth-el, and on the Eastside of the way that goeth vp from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the South of Lebonah. 20Therefore they commanded the children of Beniamin, saying, Goe, and lye in waite in the vineyardes. 21And when ye see that the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catche you euery man a wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and goe into the land of Beniamin. 22And when their fathers or their brethren come vnto vs to complaine, we wil say vnto them, Haue pitie on them for our sakes, because we reserued not to eche man his wife in the warre, and because ye haue not giuen vnto them hitherto, ye haue sinned. 23And the children of Beniamin did so, and tooke wiues of them that danced according to their nomber: which they tooke, and went away, and returned to their inheritance, and repaired the cities and dwelt in them. 24So the children of Israel departed thence at that time, euery man to his tribe, and to his familie, and went out from thence euery man to his inheritance. 25In those dayes there was no King in Israel, but euery man did that which was good in his eyes.
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