Discovery BoxJudges 21:14-18 
Context21:14 The Benjaminites returned at that time, and the Israelites 1 gave to them the women they had spared from Jabesh Gilead. But there were not enough to go around. 2
21:15 The people regretted what had happened to 3 Benjamin because the Lord had weakened 4 the Israelite tribes. 21:16 The leaders 5 of the assembly said, “How can we find wives for those who are left? 6 After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out. 21:17 The 7 remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out. 8 21:18 But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, 9 for the Israelites took an oath, saying, ‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’ 10
1 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “but they did not find for them enough.”
3 tn Or “felt sorry for.”
4 tn Heb “had made a gaping hole in.” The narrator uses imagery that compares Israel to a wall that has been breached.
5 tn Or “elders.”
6 tn Heb “What should we do for the remaining ones concerning wives?”
7 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.
8 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?”
9 tn Heb “But we are not able to give to them wives from our daughters.”
10 tn Heb “is cursed.”
