Judges 21:7

What should we do about wives for the survivors, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them our daughters in marriage?”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The assembled Israelite leaders address their own community at Mizpah immediately after the civil war that decimated the tribe of Benjamin. They voice a practical crisis regarding how to provide wives for the surviving Benjamite men.

The words — The phrase מַה־ נַּעֲשֶׂה (mah- na.'a.Seh) asks “what will we do,” marking a moment of procedural paralysis. נִשְׁבַּעְנוּ בַּיהוָה (nish.Ba'.nu ba./Yah.weh) records their binding oath to Yahweh that now actively restricts their available options.

The thread — This crisis directly follows the original Mizpah oath recorded in Judges 21:1 and the repeated refusal to violate it in Judges 21:18. The pattern of leaders constrained by solemn commitments to Yahweh also surfaces in 1 Samuel 14:28.

Why it lands — The text places a direct conflict between tribal survival and rigid oath-keeping on the table. It requires the reader to evaluate how human commitments to God intersect with the preservation of community and life.

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

מַה־mah-what?נַּעֲשֶׂ֥הna.'a.Sehwill we doלָהֶ֛םla./Hemfor <the>/ themלַנּוֹתָרִ֖יםla./no.ta.Rimfor <the>/ [those who] remain לְנָשִׁ֑יםle./na.Shimfor/ wives וַאֲנַ֙חְנוּ֙va./'a.Nach.nuand/ we נִשְׁבַּ֣עְנוּnish.Ba'.nuwe have sworn בַֽיהוָ֔הba./Yah.wehby/ Yahweh לְבִלְתִּ֛יle./vil.Tito/ not תֵּת־tet-to giveלָהֶ֥םla./Hemto <the>/ themמִבְּנוֹתֵ֖ינוּmi./be.no.Tei./nuany of/ daughters/ our לְנָשִֽׁים׃le./na.Shimto/ wives

King James Version

How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?

Cross-references

Judges 21:1 Now the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying, “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”
Judges 21:18 But we cannot give them our daughters as wives.” For the Israelites had sworn, “Cursed is he who gives a wife to a Benjamite.”
1 Samuel 14:28 Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound the troops with a solemn oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food today.’ That is why the people are faint.”
1 Samuel 14:45 But the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die—he who accomplished such a great deliverance for Israel? Never! As surely as the LORD lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for with God’s help he has accomplished this today.” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.