Judges 21:25

25 In those days was no king in Israel, but each man did that thing, that seemed rightful to himself. (In those days there was no king in Israel, but each person did what seemed right to himself.)

Judges 21:25 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 21:25

In those days there was no king in Israel
No supreme magistrate, Joshua being dead, and as yet no judge in Israel had risen up; for all related in the five last chapters of this book were done between the death of Joshua and the time of the judges:

every man did that which was right in his own eyes;
there being none to restrain him from it, or punish him for it; and this accounts for the many evil things related, as the idolatry of Micah and the Danites, the base usage of the Levite's concubine, the extreme rigour and severity with which the Israelites treated their brethren the Benjaminites, the slaughter of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead, and the rape of the daughters of Shiloh.

Judges 21:25 In-Context

23 And the sons of Benjamin did as it was commanded to them, and by their number they ravished wives to them, each man one wife, of them that led (the) dances. And they went into their possession, and builded cities, and dwelled in those. (And the Benjaminites did as it was commanded to them, and by their number they seized wives for themselves, each man one wife, out of those who led the dances. And then they went back to their possessions, and builded cities, and lived in them.)

24 And the sons of Israel turned again, by their lineages and families, into their tabernacles. (And the Israelites returned, by their tribes and families, to their inheritances, or their possessions.)

25 In those days was no king in Israel, but each man did that thing, that seemed rightful to himself. (In those days there was no king in Israel, but each person did what seemed right to himself.)