Judges 21:18

18 However we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Yisra'el had sworn, saying, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Binyamin.

Judges 21:18 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 21:18

Howbeit, we may not give them wives of our daughters
Though their case was so very necessitous and desperate:

for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, cursed be he that giveth
a wife to Benjamin,
( Judges 21:1 ) and therefore without the violation of their oath could not give any of their daughters in marriage to them: wherefore some other way must be devised to help them.

Judges 21:18 In-Context

16 Then the Zakenim of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Binyamin?

17 They said, There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Binyamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Yisra'el.

18 However we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Yisra'el had sworn, saying, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Binyamin.

19 They said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Beit-El, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beit-El to Shekhem, and on the south of Levonah.

20 They commanded the children of Binyamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,