Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The elders of the congregation address the assembled Israelites at the moment they are planning how to provide wives for the surviving Benjamites after the civil war.
The words — יְרֻשּׁת (ye.ru.Shat) denotes a possession or inheritance, and פְּלֵיטָה (pe.lei.Tah) refers to the escaped remnant or survivors.
The thread — The concern for tribal inheritance aligns with Numbers 26:55, which mandates land division by lot to preserve tribal names, and Numbers 36:7, which prohibits transferring inheritance from tribe to tribe.
Why it lands — The verse demands a practical solution to preserve a tribe’s existence without violating the Israelites’ oath, forcing a legal and logistical calculation over immediate relief.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.
Cross-references
- Numbers 26:55 Indeed, the land must be divided by lot; they shall receive their inheritance according to the names of the tribes of their fathers.
- Numbers 36:7 No inheritance in Israel may be transferred from tribe to tribe, because each of the Israelites is to retain the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.