Judges 21:18

18 But we cannot give them wives from our daughters." (For the {Israelites} swore, saying, "Cursed be [anyone] who gives a wife to Benjamin.")

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 So the elders of the congregation said, "What should we do for the remaining [ones] for wives, since the women from Benjamin have been destroyed?"

17 And they said, "[There must be] a remnant for Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be blotted out from Israel.

18 But we cannot give them wives from our daughters." (For the {Israelites} swore, saying, "Cursed be [anyone] who gives a wife to Benjamin.")

19 And they said, "Look, the annual feast of Yahweh [is] in Shiloh, which [is] to the north of Bethel, {east} of [the] main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.

20 They instructed the descendants of Benjamin, saying, "Go, lie in ambush in the vineyards,

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "sons/children of Israel"