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
A Decision Is Made About the Tribe of Benjamin
1The men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, saying, “None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” 2And the people of Bethel came and sat there until evening before God, and they lifted their voices and wept bitterly.#Literally “they cried a great weeping” 3And they said, “Why, Yahweh, God of Israel, has it happened today in Israel that one tribe is lacking from Israel?” 4On the next day the people rose early, and they built there an altar and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. 5And the Israelites#Literally “sons/children of Israel” said, “Who in the assembly has not come up from all the tribes of Israel to Yahweh?” For a solemn oath was taken concerning whoever did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah, saying, “He will certainly be put to death.” 6But the Israelites#Literally “sons/children of Israel” had compassion for Benjamin, their relatives,#Hebrew “his brother” and they said, “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel. 7What will we do for them—for the ones being left over—for wives? For we have sworn by Yahweh not to give to them our daughters as wives.”
8They asked, “Which one is there from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah?” And behold, no one came from Jabesh-gilead to the camp, to the assembly. 9The people were counted, and no one was there from the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead. 10And the congregation sent there twelve thousand men from the troops, and they commanded them, saying, “Go, strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword,#Literally “the mouth of the sword” and the women and children. 11This is the thing you will do: you will destroy#Literally “you will devote to destruction” every man and every woman who had sex with a man.”#Literally “every woman who knows the bed of a man” 12And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins#Hebrew “virgin” who had not had sex with a man,#Literally “known a man, as far as the bed of a male” and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13Then the congregation sent and spoke all this to the descendants#Or “sons/children” of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and they assured them they would not be hurt.#Literally “they proclaimed peace to them” 14And Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave to them the women whom they kept alive from Jabesh-gilead; but they were not enough for them.
15And the people felt sorry for Benjamin because Yahweh weakened the tribes of Israel.#Literally “Yahweh make a breach with the tribes of Israel” 16So the elders of the congregation said, “What should we do for the remaining ones for wives, since the women from Benjamin have been destroyed?” 17And they said, “There must be a remnant for Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be blotted out from Israel. 18But we cannot give them wives from our daughters.” (For the Israelites#Literally “sons/children of Israel” swore, saying, “Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin.”) 19And they said, “Look, the annual feast of Yahweh is in Shiloh, which is to the north of Bethel, east#Literally “rising of the sun” of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah. 20They instructed the descendants#Or “sons/children” of Benjamin, saying, “Go, lie in ambush in the vineyards, 21and watch and look; when the daughters of Shiloh dance in the dances, come out from the vineyards and seize for yourselves a wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22And if their fathers or their brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Allow us to have them, because we did not capture a wife for each man in the battle, and because you did not give them to them, or else#Literally “as the time” you would have been guilty.’ ” 23The descendants#Or “sons/children” of Benjamin did likewise, and they took wives for each of them from the dancers whom they seized, and they went and returned to their territory, and they rebuilt the cities and they lived in them. 24So the Israelites#Literally “sons/children of Israel” dispersed from there at that time according to tribe and family; and they went out from there, each one to their own territory. 25In those days there was no king in Israel; each one did what was right in his own eyes.
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