Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version And the elders of the assembly said, “With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left? New Living Translation So the elders of the assembly asked, “How can we find wives for the few who remain, since the women of the tribe of Benjamin are dead? English Standard Version Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?” Berean Standard Bible Then the elders of the congregation said, “What should we do about wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” King James Bible 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? New King James Version Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” New American Standard Bible Then the elders of the congregation said, “What are we to do for wives for those who are left, since the women have been eliminated from Benjamin?” NASB 1995 Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?” NASB 1977 Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?” Legacy Standard Bible Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?” Amplified Bible Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those [men] who are left, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” Christian Standard Bible The elders of the congregation said, “What should we do about wives for those who are left, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed? ” Holman Christian Standard Bible The elders of the congregation said, “What should we do about wives for those who are left, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” American Standard Version 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? Aramaic Bible in Plain English And the Elders of the people said: “What shall we do for those who are left without wives, these who are left, because the women of Benyamin are destroyed?” Brenton Septuagint Translation And the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for wives for them that remain? for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin. Contemporary English Version Then their leaders said: All the women of the Benjamin tribe were killed. How can we get wives for the men of Benjamin who are left? Douay-Rheims Bible And the ancients said: What shall we do with the rest, that have not received wives? for all the women in Benjamin are dead. English Revised Version 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? GOD'S WORD® Translation The leaders of the congregation asked, "What should we do to provide wives for the men who are left, since the women in Benjamin have been killed?" Good News Translation So the leaders of the gathering said, "There are no more women in the tribe of Benjamin. What shall we do to provide wives for the men who are left? International Standard Version So the elders of the congregation asked, "What will we do to obtain wives for the survivors, since the women of Benjamin have been devastated?" JPS Tanakh 1917 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?' Literal Standard Version And [the] elderly of the congregation say, “What do we do to the remnant for wives—for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin?” Majority Standard Bible Then the elders of the congregation said, “What should we do about wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” New American Bible The elders of the assembly said, “What shall we do for wives for the survivors? For the women of Benjamin have been annihilated.” NET Bible The leaders of the assembly said, "How can we find wives for those who are left? After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out. New Revised Standard Version So the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since there are no women left in Benjamin?” New Heart English Bible Then the elders of the congregation said, "How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?" Webster's Bible Translation 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? World English Bible Then the elders of the congregation said, “How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?” Young's Literal Translation And the elders of the company say, 'What do we do to the remnant for wives -- for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin?' Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context Wives for the Benjamites…15The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a void in the tribes of Israel. 16Then the elders of the congregation said, “What should we do about wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” 17They added, “There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out.… Cross References Judges 21:15 The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a void in the tribes of Israel. Judges 21:17 They added, "There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. Treasury of Scripture 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? Jump to Previous Assembly Benjamin Company Congregation Dead Destroyed Elders Meeting Provide Remnant Responsible Rest Wives WomenJump to Next Assembly Benjamin Company Congregation Dead Destroyed Elders Meeting Provide Remnant Responsible Rest Wives WomenJudges 21 1. The people bewail the desolation of Benjamin8. By the destruction of Jabesh Gilead they provide them four hundred wives. 16. They advise the remainder to surprise the virgins that danced at Shiloh (16) How shall we do . . .?--They want to keep their vow in the letter, while they break it in the spirit. The sense of the binding nature of the "ban" was intensely strong (Exodus 20:7; Ezekiel 17:18-19), but, as is so often the case among rude and ignorant people, they fancied that it was sufficient to keep it literally, while in effect they violated it. Similarly in Herodotus (iv. 154), Themison having sworn to throw Phronima into the sea--the intention having been that she should be drowned--feels himself bound to throw her into the sea, but has her drawn out of it again. Their want of moral enlightenment revealed itself in this way, and still more in having ever taken this horrible oath, which involved the butchery of innocent men, and of still more innocent women and children. In point of fact, the cherem often broke down under the strain which it placed on men's best feelings (1Samuel 14:45) as well as on their lower temptations. The guilt of breaking a guilty vow is only the original guilt of ever having made it. What the Israelites should have done was not to bathe their hands in more rivers of fraternal blood, but to pray to God to forgive the brutal vehemence which disgraced a cause originally righteous, and to have allowed the remnant of the Benjamites to intermarry with them once more. As it was, they were led by ignorance and rashness into several vows which could not be fulfilled without horrible cruelty and bloodshed, and the fulfilment of which they after all casuistically evaded, and that at the cost of still more bloodshed. As all these events took place under the guidance of Phinehas, they give us a high estimate indeed of the zeal which was his noblest characteristic (Psalm 106:30), yet a very low estimate of his state of spiritual insight; and clearly to such a man the fulfilment of Jephthah's cherem by sacrificing his daughter (see Note on Judges 11:39) would have seemed as nothing compared to the extermination of tribes and of cities, involving the shedding of rivers of innocent blood. But why should we suppose that the grandson of Aaron, in such times as these--when all was anarchy, idolatry, and restlessness, against which he either did not strive or strove most ineffectually--should stand on so much higher a level than his schismatical and semi-idolatrous cousin, the wandering grandson of Moses?Verse 16. - Seeing the women. It is rather more in accordance with the Hebrew style to take the words as the narrator's explanation of the question, What shall we do? They said this because all the women of Benjamin had been destroyed. Parallel Commentaries ... Hebrew Then the eldersזִקְנֵ֣י (ziq·nê) Adjective - masculine plural construct Strong's 2205: Old of the congregation הָעֵדָ֔ה (hā·‘ê·ḏāh) Article | Noun - feminine singular Strong's 5712: A stated assemblage said, וַיֹּֽאמְר֨וּ (way·yō·mə·rū) Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural Strong's 559: To utter, say “What מַה־ (mah-) Interrogative Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what should we do נַּעֲשֶׂ֥ה (na·‘ă·śeh) Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common plural Strong's 6213: To do, make about wives לְנָשִׁ֑ים (lə·nā·šîm) Preposition-l | Noun - feminine plural Strong's 802: Woman, wife, female for those who remain, לַנּוֹתָרִ֖ים (lan·nō·w·ṯā·rîm) Preposition-l, Article | Verb - Nifal - Participle - masculine plural Strong's 3498: To jut over, exceed, to excel, to remain, be left, to leave, cause to abound, preserve since כִּֽי־ (kî-) Conjunction Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction the women אִשָּֽׁה׃ (’iš·šāh) Noun - feminine singular Strong's 802: Woman, wife, female of Benjamin מִבִּנְיָמִ֖ן (mib·bin·yā·min) Preposition-m | Noun - proper - masculine singular Strong's 1144: Benjamin -- 'son of the right hand', youngest son of Jacob, also the name of two other Israelites have been destroyed?” נִשְׁמְדָ֥ה (niš·mə·ḏāh) Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person feminine singular Strong's 8045: To be exterminated or destroyed Links Judges 21:16 NIVJudges 21:16 NLT Judges 21:16 ESV Judges 21:16 NASB Judges 21:16 KJV Judges 21:16 BibleApps.com Judges 21:16 Biblia Paralela Judges 21:16 Chinese Bible Judges 21:16 French Bible Judges 21:16 Catholic Bible OT History: Judges 21:16 Then the elders of the congregation said (Jd Judg. 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