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Thursday, April 16th, 2026
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Read the Bible

Bible in Basic English

Judges 21:2

And the people came to Beth-el, waiting there till evening before God, and gave themselves up to bitter weeping.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Beth-El;   Church;   Nation;   Rashness;   Thompson Chain Reference - Dead, the;   Grief;   Joy-Sorrow;   Mourning;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Benjamin, Tribe of;   Evening, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Gibeah;   Mizpah;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Bethel;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Judges, Book of;   Sore;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Benjamin;   Jabesh, Jabesh-Gilead;   Marriage;   Priests and Levites;   Samson;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Gibeah;   Jotham;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Beth'el;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Intercession;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So the people went to Bethel and sat there before God until evening. They wept loudly and bitterly,
Hebrew Names Version
The people came to Beit-El, and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore.
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;
Lexham English Bible
And the people of Bethel came and sat there until evening before God, and they lifted their voices and wept bitterly.
English Standard Version
And the people came to Bethel and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly.
New Century Version
The people went to the city of Bethel and sat before God until evening, crying loudly.
New English Translation
So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, weeping loudly and uncontrollably.
Amplified Bible
So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and lifted up their voices and wept bitterly.
New American Standard Bible
So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and raised their voices and wept profusely.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And the people came vnto ye house of God and abode there till euen before God, and lift vp their voyces, and wept with great lamentation,
Legacy Standard Bible
En toe die manskappe in Bet-el kom, het hulle daar gebly tot die aand toe voor die aangesig van God en hulle stem verhef en geween met 'n groot geween
Contemporary English Version
After the war with Benjamin, the Israelites went to the place of worship at Bethel and sat there until sunset. They cried loudly and bitterly
Complete Jewish Bible
The people came to Beit-El and stayed there before God till evening crying out and weeping.
Darby Translation
And the people came to Bethel, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices and wept bitterly,
Easy-to-Read Version
The Israelites went to the city of Bethel. There they sat before God until evening. They cried loudly as they sat there.
George Lamsa Translation
And the people came to Beth-el, and abode there till evening before God, and lifted up their voices and wept bitterly;
Good News Translation
So now the people of Israel went to Bethel and sat there in the presence of God until evening. Loudly and bitterly they mourned:
Literal Translation
And the people came to Bethel, and sat there before God until the evening. And they lifted up their voices and wept a great weeping.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the people came to the house of God (in Silo) & abode there before God vntill the euenynge, and lifte vp their voyce, and wepte sore,
American Standard Version
And the people came to Beth-el, and sat there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till euen, before God, & lift vp their voyces, and wept sore,
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the people came to Beth-el, and sat there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore.
King James Version (1611)
And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till euen before God, and lift vp their voices, and wept sore:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the people came to Baethel, and sat there until evening before God: and they lifted up their voice and wept with a great weeping;
English Revised Version
And the people came to Beth-el, and sat there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore.
Berean Standard Bible
So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, lifting up their voices and weeping bitterly.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And `alle camen to the hows of God in Silo, and thei saten in the `siyt of hym `til to euentid, and thei reisiden the vois, and bigunnen to wepe with greet yellyng,
Young's Literal Translation
And the people come in to Beth-El, and sit there till the evening before God, and lift up their voice, and weep -- a great weeping,
Update Bible Version
And the people came to Beth-el, and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept intensely.
Webster's Bible Translation
And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept bitterly;
World English Bible
The people came to Bethel, and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore.
New King James Version
Then the people came to the house of God, [fn] and remained there before God till evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly,
New Living Translation
Now the people went to Bethel and sat in the presence of God until evening, weeping loudly and bitterly.
New Life Bible
So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening. In loud voices they cried,
New Revised Standard
And the people came to Bethel, and sat there until evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So then the people came to Bethel, and abode there, until the evening, before God, - and lifted up their voice, and wept bitterly,
Douay-Rheims Bible
And they all came to the house of God in Silo, and sitting before him till the evening, lifted up their voices, and began to lament and weep, saying:
Revised Standard Version
And the people came to Bethel, and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly.
THE MESSAGE
Now, back in Bethel, the people sat in the presence of God until evening. They cried loudly; there was widespread lamentation. They said, "Why, O God , God of Israel, has this happened? Why do we find ourselves today missing one whole tribe from Israel?"
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and lifted up their voices and wept bitterly.

Contextual Overview

1 Now the men of Israel had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, Not one of us will give his daughter as a wife to Benjamin. 2 And the people came to Beth-el, waiting there till evening before God, and gave themselves up to bitter weeping. 3 And they said, O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this fate come on Israel, that today one tribe has been cut off from Israel? 4 Then on the day after, the people got up early and made an altar there, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings. 5 And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel, who did not come up to the Lord at the meeting of all Israel? For they had taken a great oath that whoever did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord was to be put to death. 6 And the children of Israel were moved with pity for Benjamin their brother, saying, Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel. 7 What are we to do about wives for those who are still living? For we have taken an oath by the Lord that we will not give them our daughters for wives. 8 And they said, Which one of the tribes of Israel did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord? And it was seen that no one had come from Jabesh-gilead to the meeting. 9 For when the people were numbered, not one man of the people of Jabesh-gilead was present. 10 So they (the meeting) sent twelve thousand of the best fighting-men, and gave them orders, saying, Go and put the people of Jabesh-gilead to the sword without mercy, with their women and their little ones.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the house: Judges 21:12, Judges 20:18, Judges 20:23, Judges 20:26, Joshua 18:1

lifted: Judges 2:4, Genesis 27:38, 1 Samuel 30:4

Reciprocal: Numbers 11:18 - ye have wept Joshua 7:6 - until the eventide 1 Samuel 1:10 - wept sore 1 Samuel 11:4 - lifted up

Cross-References

Genesis 17:19
And God said, Not so; but Sarah, your wife, will have a son, and you will give him the name Isaac, and I will make my agreement with him for ever and with his seed after him.
Genesis 17:21
But my agreement will be with Isaac, to whom Sarah will give birth a year from this time.
Genesis 18:10
And he said, I will certainly come back to you in the spring, and Sarah your wife will have a son. And his words came to the ears of Sarah who was at the back of the tent-door.
Genesis 18:14
Is there any wonder which the Lord is not able to do? At the time I said, in the spring, I will come back to you, and Sarah will have a child.
Genesis 21:16
And she went some distance away, about an arrow flight, and seating herself on the earth, she gave way to bitter weeping, saying, Let me not see the death of my child.
Genesis 21:17
And the boy's cry came to the ears of God; and the angel of God said to Hagar from heaven, Hagar, why are you weeping? have no fear, for the child's cry has come to the ears of God.
Genesis 21:24
And Abraham said, I will give you my oath.
Genesis 21:25
But Abraham made a protest to Abimelech because of a water-hole which Abimelech's servants had taken by force.
Luke 1:36
Even now Elisabeth, who is of your family, is to be a mother, though she is old: and this is the sixth month with her who was without children.
Acts 7:8
And he made with him the agreement of which circumcision was the sign. And so Abraham had a son, Isaac, and gave him circumcision on the eighth day; and Isaac had a son, Jacob, and Jacob was the father of the twelve heads of the families of Israel.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the people came to the house of God,.... Not to the city Bethel, as the Targum, Septuagint, and other versions, but to Shiloh, where were the tabernacle and ark; and this is to be understood of the army after they had utterly destroyed the Benjaminites: hence we read of the camp in Shiloh, Judges 21:12, here they came not so much to rejoice, and be glad, and to return thanks for the victory they had at last obtained, as to lament the unhappy case of the tribe of Benjamin, and to have counsel and advice, and consider of ways and means to repair their loss:

and abode there till even before God; fasting and praying, instead of feasting and rejoicing:

and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; not so much, or at least not only for the 40,000 Israelites that were slain, but for the tribe of Benjamin, in danger of being lost, as follows.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

To the house of God - It should be, “to Bethel.” See Judges 20:18.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 21:2. The people came to the house of God — Literally, the people came בית־אל to Bethel; this is considered as the name of a place by the Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and Septuagint.

And wept sore — Their revenge was satisfied, and now reflection brings them to contrition for what they had done.


 
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