TRV
Translation
King James Version
Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.
Complete Jewish Bible
Yet we can't give them our daughters as wives." For the people of Isra'el had sworn, "Cursed be whoever gives a wife to Binyamin."
Berean Standard Bible
But we cannot give them our daughters as wives.” For the Israelites had sworn, “Cursed is he who gives a wife to a Benjamite.”
American Standard Version
Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.
World English Bible Messianic
However we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, ‘Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.’”
Geneva Bible (1599)
Howbeit 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.
Young's Literal Translation
and we--we are not able to give to them wives out of our daughters, for the sons of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed is he who is giving a wife to Benjamin.'
See also
See on the biblical-era map
In the KJVVerse 7,121 of 31,102
Study This Verse
Commentary on Judges 21 verses 16–25
16 ¶ Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?
17 And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.
18 Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.
19 Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
20 Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;
21 And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
22 And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty.
23 And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.
24 And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
We have here the method that was taken to provide the 200 Benjamites that remained with wives. And, though the tribe was reduced to a small number, they were only in care to provide each man with one wife, not with more under pretence of multiplying them the faster. They may not bestow their daughters upon them, but to save their oath, and yet marry some of their daughters to them, they put them into a way of taking them by surprise, and marrying them, which should be ratified by their parents' consent, ex post facto - afterwards. The less consideration is used before the making of a vow, the more, commonly, there is need of afterwards for the keeping of it.
I. That which gave an opportunity for the doing of this was a public ball at Shiloh, in the fields, at which all the young ladies of that city and the parts adjacent that were so disposed met to dance, in honour of a feast of the Lord then observed, probably the feast of tabernacles (Jdg 21:19), for that feast (bishop Patrick says) was the only season wherein the Jewish virgins were allowed to dance, and that not so much for their own recreation as to express their holy joy, as David when he danced before the ark, otherwise the present melancholy posture of public affairs would have made dancing unseasonable, as Isa 22:12, Isa 22:13. The dancing was very modest and chaste. It was not mixed dancing; no men danced with these daughters of Shiloh, nor did any married women so far forget their gravity as to join with them. However their dancing thus in public made them an easy prey to those that had a design upon them, whence bishop Hall observes that the ambushes of evil spirits carry away many souls from dancing to a fearful desolation.
II. The elders of Israel gave authority to the Benjamites to do this, to lie in wait in the vineyards which surrounded the green they used to dance on, and, when they were in the midst of their sport, to come upon them, and catch every man a wife for himself, and carry them straight away to their own country, Jdg 21:20, Jdg 21:21. They knew that none of their own daughters would be there, so that the parents of these virgins could not be said to give them, for they knew nothing of the matter. A sorry salvo is better than none, to save the breaking of an oath: it were much better to be cautious in making vows, that there be not occasion afterwards, as there was here, to say before the angel that it was an error. Here was a very preposterous way of match-making, when both the mutual affection of the young people and the consent of the parents must be presumed to come after; the case was extraordinary, and may by no means be drawn into a precedent. Over hasty marriages often occasion a leisurely repentance; and what comfort can be expected from a match made either by force or fraud? The virgins of Jabesh-Gilead were taken out of the midst of blood and slaughter, but these of Shiloh out of the midst of mirth and joy; the former had reason to be thankful that they had their lives for a prey, and the latter, it is to be hoped, had no cause to complain, after a while, when they found themselves matched, not to men of broken and desperate fortunes, as they seemed to be, who were lately fetched out of a cave, but to men of the best and largest estates in the nation, as they must needs be when the lot of the whole tribe of Benjamin, which consisted of 45,600 men (Num 26:41), came to be divided again among 600, who had all by survivorship.
III. They undertook to pacify the fathers of these young women. As to the infringement of their paternal authority, they would easily forgive it when they considered to what fair estates their daughters were matched and what mothers in Israel they were likely to be; but the oath they were bound by, not to give their daughters to Benjamites, might perhaps stick with some of them, whose consciences were tender, yet, as to that, this might satisfy them: - 1. That the necessity was urgent (Jdg 21:22): We reserved not to each man his wife, owning now that they did ill to destroy all the women, and desiring to atone for their too rigorous construction of their vow to destroy them by the most favourable construction of their vow not to match with them. "And therefore for our sakes, who were too severe, let them keep what they have got." For, 2. In strictness it was not a breach of their vow; they had sworn not to give them their daughters, but they had not sworn to fetch them back if they were forcibly taken, so that if there was any fault the elders must be responsible, not the parents. And Quod fieri non debuit, factum valet - That which ought not to have been done is yet valid when it is done. The thing was done, and is ratified only by connivance, according to the law, Num 30:4.
Lastly, In the close of all we have, 1. The settling of the tribe of Benjamin again. The few that remained returned to the inheritance of that tribe, Jdg 21:23. And soon after from among them sprang Ehud, who was famous in his generation, the second judge of Israel, Jdg 3:15. 2. The disbanding and dispersing of the army of Israel, Jdg 21:24. They did not set up for a standing army, nor pretend to make any alterations or establishments in the government; but when the affair was over for which they were called together, they quietly departed in God's peace, every man to his family. Public services must not make us think ourselves above our own private affairs and the duty of providing for our own house. 3. A repetition of the cause of these confusions, Jdg 21:25. Though God was their King, every man would be his own master, as if there was no king. Blessed be God for magistracy.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 16–25. Public domain.
Copy as
Ambrose of MilanAD 397
On the Duties of the Clergy 3.19.115
The sentence, further, was that none of the people of the ancestors should give his daughter in marriage to [members of Benjamin’s tribe]. This was confirmed by a solemn oath. But relenting at having laid so hard a sentence on their brothers, they moderated their severity so as to give them in marriage those maidens that had lost their parents, whose fathers had been slain for their sins, or to give them the means of finding a wife by a raid. Because of the villainy of so foul a deed, they who had violated another’s marriage rights were shown to be unworthy to ask for marriage. But for fear that one tribe might perish from the people, they connived at the deceit.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
Copy as
Continue studying Judges 21:18 across the web’s major study libraries — every link below opens this exact verse, chapter, or book on the destination site.
Read & Compare
BibleGatewayThis verse in more than 200 translations and 70 languages.
Bible.comThe YouVersion reader — hundreds of translations, reading plans, and highlights.
ESV.orgCrossway's official English Standard Version reader.
NET BibleThe NET translation with 60,000+ translators' notes on every rendering decision.
STEP BibleTyndale House's free study tool — original text, vocabulary, and scholarly resources.
BibliaLogos Bible Software's free web reader.
USCCBThe New American Bible (Revised Edition) with the U.S. bishops' study notes.
Commentaries
BibleHub CommentariesDozens of classic commentaries on this verse, gathered on one page.
StudyLightMore than 100 commentary sets — the largest collection on the web.
BibleRefPlain-English commentary on what this verse means, verse by verse.
Enduring WordDavid Guzik's free commentary on this chapter, widely used by Bible teachers.
Bible Study ToolsVerse commentary alongside Greek and Hebrew study aids.
Original Language & Research
- BibleHub InterlinearThe verse word by word — original language, transliteration, and English.
- BibleHub LexiconEvery word's original-language definition and Strong's entry.
Blue Letter BibleDeep-study tools — Strong's numbers, concordance, and word studies.
SefariaThe Hebrew text with Rashi and centuries of Jewish commentary.
Sermons, Hymns & Audio
TrulyRandomVerse is not affiliated with these sites and doesn’t control their content. They’re linked because they’re genuinely useful.
SUMMARY
Judges 21:18 encapsulates the profound moral and social dilemma faced by the tribes of Israel after their devastating civil war against Benjamin. Having nearly annihilated the tribe in righteous indignation, the remaining Israelites were now confronted with the grim reality of Benjamin's impending extinction. This verse specifically highlights the seemingly insurmountable obstacle to Benjamin's restoration: a solemn, divinely-invoked oath sworn by the other tribes, forbidding any Israelite from giving their daughters as wives to a Benjamite man. It underscores the binding nature of such vows in ancient Israelite society, even when made in haste and leading to unforeseen, tragic consequences.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The passage employs several potent literary devices to convey the gravity of the situation. Irony is prominent, as the very act intended to punish Benjamin for its wickedness—the oath of non-intermarriage—now threatens to annihilate an entire tribe, leading to a desperate search for a solution. This creates a profound dilemma, a classic literary tension where characters are caught between two undesirable choices: uphold a rash vow or allow a tribe of Israel to perish. The narrative's focus on the oath and its consequences also serves as a subtle foreshadowing of the moral and spiritual decline that will continue to plague Israel, ultimately necessitating the establishment of a monarchy to provide central leadership and prevent such chaos, as alluded to in the repeated refrain, "In those days there was no king in Israel" (Judges 17:6, Judges 18:1, Judges 19:1, Judges 21:25).
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Judges 21:18 powerfully illustrates the sanctity and serious consequences of vows in ancient Israelite society, a principle deeply embedded in Mosaic Law. While the Israelites' initial oath was made in righteous anger and grief over the atrocity in Gibeah, it became a binding commitment before God, demonstrating that even rash or emotionally driven promises were held to be inviolable. This passage highlights the tension between human responsibility for one's words and the unforeseen, often negative, outcomes of decisions made without full wisdom or divine consultation. The dilemma reveals a profound theological truth: God's people, even in their fallen state, are still bound by their covenantal obligations and the principles of His law, even when their own actions create seemingly insurmountable problems. Ultimately, the narrative points to God's sovereign hand working through human folly to preserve His purposes, ensuring the survival of Benjamin despite the self-inflicted obstacles, demonstrating His faithfulness to His overarching covenant with Israel.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Judges 21:18 serves as a potent reminder of the profound weight and enduring consequences of our words, particularly our promises and commitments. In a world where commitments are often taken lightly, this passage challenges believers to consider the gravity of their vows, whether to God, to others, or even to themselves. It encourages a posture of careful deliberation and seeking divine wisdom before making significant pledges, recognizing that hasty or ill-conceived promises, even if well-intentioned, can lead to complex moral dilemmas and unintended suffering. The Israelites' predicament underscores the importance of humility in decision-making, acknowledging our limited foresight and the potential for our emotions to lead us astray. Ultimately, it calls us to live with integrity, honoring our word, but also to rely on God's grace and wisdom to navigate the complexities that arise from our own imperfections and the fallenness of the world, trusting that His sovereignty can work even through our mistakes.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why was the oath against Benjamin considered so binding, even when it led to a dire situation?
Answer: The oath was considered absolutely binding because it was a solemn vow, likely made in the presence of God and accompanied by a self-imprecation (a curse upon anyone who violated it). In ancient Israelite culture, vows were not mere promises but sacred commitments, often invoking divine witness. Breaking such an oath was believed to incur God's wrath and bring a curse upon the individual or community. This understanding is rooted in Mosaic Law, which emphasized the sanctity of vows (e.g., Numbers 30:2, Deuteronomy 23:21-23). Despite the dire consequences for Benjamin, the Israelites feared the spiritual repercussions of breaking their word more than they feared the extinction of a tribe, illustrating the profound weight of their religious convictions, even when misguided.
What was the ultimate solution the Israelites devised to provide wives for the Benjamites, given their oath?
Answer: The Israelites devised a two-part solution to circumvent their oath. First, they discovered that the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead had not participated in the initial war against Benjamin or the subsequent oath. Therefore, they attacked Jabesh-Gilead, killing all its inhabitants except for 400 virgins, whom they then gave as wives to the surviving Benjamite men (Judges 21:8-14). However, this was not enough to provide for all the remaining Benjamite men. For the rest, they instructed them to lie in wait at the annual festival in Shiloh and abduct the dancing daughters of Shiloh, taking them as wives by force (Judges 21:19-23). This ethically questionable solution highlights the moral depravity of the era, where human ingenuity and violence were used to navigate a self-imposed dilemma, rather than seeking divine guidance for a righteous path.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
The desperate dilemma of Judges 21:18, where a people are bound by a rash oath and face the extinction of a tribe, ultimately points to the profound need for a perfect King and a new covenant. The Israelites' inability to right their own wrong, resorting to ethically dubious means to preserve Benjamin, highlights the futility of human efforts to overcome the consequences of sin and folly without divine intervention. In Christ, we find the ultimate fulfillment of what Israel desperately lacked. He is the perfect High Priest who offers a sacrifice that truly atones for sin, unlike the repeated, imperfect sacrifices of the Old Covenant (Hebrews 9:11-14). More profoundly, Jesus is the one who perfectly fulfills all righteousness and every oath, not by human strength or cunning, but by divine grace. His life, death, and resurrection establish a new covenant, not based on human vows and their often-tragic consequences, but on God's unwavering promise and grace (Hebrews 8:6-13). The preservation of Benjamin, however flawed the means, foreshadows God's faithfulness to preserve His people. In Christ, God's ultimate promise to redeem and gather a people for Himself is perfectly realized, not through human ingenuity or violence, but through the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), establishing a spiritual lineage that transcends tribal boundaries and human folly, ensuring the eternal preservation of His chosen remnant (Romans 9:27-29).