Judges 21:2

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

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

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.

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

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 When the Israelites had met at Mizpah before the war with Benjamin, they had made this sacred promise: "None of us will ever let our daughters marry any man from Benjamin." ² 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 ³ and prayed, "Our Lord , you are the God of Israel. Why did you let this happen? Now one of our tribes is almost gone." ⁴ Early the next morning, the Israelites built an altar and offered sacrifices to please the Lord and to ask his blessing. ⁵ Then they asked each other, "Did any of the tribes of Israel fail to come to the place of worship? We made a sacred promise that anyone who didn't come to the meeting at Mizpah would be put to death." ⁶ The Israelites were sad about what had happened to the Benjamin tribe, and they said, "One of our tribes was almost wiped out. ⁷ Only a few men of Benjamin weren't killed in the war. We need to get wives for them, so the tribe won't completely disappear. But how can we do that, after promising in the Lord 's name that we wouldn't let them marry any of our daughters?" ⁸Again the Israelites asked, "Did any of the tribes stay away from the meeting at Mizpah?" After asking around, they discovered that no one had come from Jabesh in Gilead. ¹⁰So they sent twelve thousand warriors with these orders: "Attack Jabesh in Gilead and kill everyone, except the women who have never been married." ¹² The warriors attacked Jabesh in Gilead, and returned to their camp in Canaan with four hundred young women.

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
But God answered: No! You and Sarah will have a son. His name will be Isaac, and I will make an everlasting promise to him and his descendants.

Genesis 17:21
But your son Isaac will be born about this time next year, and the promise I am making to you and your family will be for him and his descendants forever.

Genesis 18:10
One of the guests was the Lord , and he said, "I'll come back about this time next year, and when I do, Sarah will already have a son." Sarah was behind Abraham, listening at the entrance to the tent.

Genesis 18:14
I am the Lord ! There is nothing too difficult for me. I'll come back next year at the time I promised, and Sarah will already have a son."

Genesis 21:16
Then she sat down a long way off, because she could not bear to watch him die. And she cried bitterly.

Genesis 21:17
When God heard the boy crying, the angel of God called out to Hagar from heaven and said, "Hagar, why are you worried? Don't be afraid. I have heard your son crying.

Genesis 21:24
And so, Abraham promised.

Genesis 21:25
One day, Abraham told Abimelech, "Some of your servants have taken over one of my wells."

Luke 1:36
Your relative Elizabeth is also going to have a son, even though she is old. No one thought she could ever have a baby, but in three months she will have a son.

Acts 7:8
God said to Abraham, "Every son in each family must be circumcised to show that you have kept your agreement with me." So when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him. Later, Isaac circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob circumcised his twelve sons.

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.