Judges 21:20-23

21:20 So they commanded the Benjaminites, “Go hide in the vineyards, 21:21 and keep your eyes open.¹ When you see² the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration,³ 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. 21:22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us,⁴ we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be,⁵ for we could not get each one a wife through battle.⁶ Don’t worry about breaking your oath!⁷ You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’”⁸

21:23 The Benjaminites did as instructed.⁹ They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives.¹⁰ They went home¹¹ to their own territory,¹² rebuilt their cities, and settled down.¹³

¹tn Heb “and look.”

²tn Heb “and look, when.”

³tn Heb “in the dances.”

⁴tc The (original) LXX and Vulgate read “to you.”

⁵tn The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁶tn 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.

⁷tn This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.

⁸tc 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.

⁹tn Heb “did so.”

¹⁰tn Heb “And they took wives according to their number from the dancing girls whom they abducted.”

¹¹tn Heb “went and returned.”

¹²tn Heb “inheritance.”

¹³tn Heb “and lived in them.”