21:15 The people regretted what had happened to 4 Benjamin because the Lord had weakened 5 the Israelite tribes.
1 tn Heb “the house of Ephraim.”
2 tn Or “Israel experienced great distress.” Perhaps here the verb has the nuance “hemmed in.”
3 tn Heb “the men of Israel.” The noun phrase has been replaced by the pronoun (“they”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4 tn Or “felt sorry for.”
5 tn Heb “had made a gaping hole in.” The narrator uses imagery that compares Israel to a wall that has been breached.
6 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.
7 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?”