Bible Strands
Judges 21:2
So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, lifting up their voices and weeping bitterly.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Israelite community assembles at Bethel after a civil war and a binding oath, acting collectively before God. They remain there from the morning until evening to process the loss of an entire tribe.
The words — בֵּֽית־אֵל (Beth-El) literally means "House of God," marking the specific location of their assembly. עַד־הָ/עֶ֔רֶב (ad-ha'erev) denotes they maintained their posture "until evening."
The thread — This pattern of gathering at Bethel to weep and seek God appears in Judges 20:18 and Judges 20:26, while 1 Samuel 30:4 records a comparable intensity of corporate lament. The location functions repeatedly as the designated point for national inquiry and mourning.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to bring collective crisis directly to God's presence without spiritual bypassing. The text demands that national loss be acknowledged through sustained, unadorned lament at the sacred site.
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 the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore;
Cross-references
- Judges 20:26 Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel, where they sat weeping before the LORD. That day they fasted until evening and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD.
- Judges 20:18 The Israelites set out, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God, “Who of us shall go up first to fight against the Benjamites?” “Judah will be first,” the LORD replied.
- 1 Samuel 30:4 So David and the troops with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no strength left to weep.
- Genesis 27:38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.
- Joshua 18:1 Then the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. And though the land was subdued before them,
- Judges 2:4 When the angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
- Judges 20:23 They went up and wept before the LORD until evening, inquiring of Him, “Should we again draw near for battle against our brothers the Benjamites?” And the LORD answered, “Go up against them.”
- Judges 21:12 So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young women who had not had relations with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.