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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Judges 17:6

There was no king in Israel at that time; everyone did whatever they wanted.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Liberty;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Judges, Extraordinary;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Jonathan;   Judges;   Teraphim;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Ephod;   Idol, idolatry;   Judges, book of;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Ruth, Theology of;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Jonathan;   Judges, the Book of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ephod;   Government;   Inquire of God;   Judges, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Bethlehem;   Israel;   Judges (1);   Levi;   Micah, Micaiah;   Priests and Levites;   Samson;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Jonathan;   Micah;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Reign of the Judges;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bethlehem;   Day;   Ezekiel;   Israel, History of the People;   Israel, Religion of;   Jonathan (1);   Judges, Period of;   Micah (1);   Priests and Levites;   Right;   Samson;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Law, Civil;   Priest;   Sacrifice;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for December 15;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.
Hebrew Names Version
In those days there was no king in Yisra'el: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
King James Version
In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Lexham English Bible
In those days there was no king in Israel, and each one did what was right in his own eyes.
English Standard Version
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
New Century Version
At that time Israel did not have a king, so everyone did what seemed right.
New English Translation
In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.
Amplified Bible
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.
New American Standard Bible
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Geneva Bible (1587)
In those dayes there was no King in Israel, but euery man did that which was good in his owne eyes.
Legacy Standard Bible
In dié dae was daar geen koning in Israel nie: elkeen het gedoen wat reg was in sy oë.
Contemporary English Version
This was before kings ruled Israel, so all the Israelites did whatever they thought was right.
Complete Jewish Bible
At that time there was no king in Isra'el; a man simply did whatever he thought was right.
Darby Translation
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.
Easy-to-Read Version
(At that time the Israelites did not have a king, so everyone did what they thought was right.)
George Lamsa Translation
In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Literal Translation
And in those days there was no king in Israel; each man did the right in his own eyes.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
At yt tyme was there no kynge in Israel, & euery man dyd the thinge yt was righte in his awne eyes.
American Standard Version
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Bible in Basic English
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did as seemed right to him.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
In those dayes there was no kyng in Israel, but euery man dyd that which was good in his owne eyes.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
King James Version (1611)
In those dayes there was no king in Israel, but euery man did that which was right in his owne eyes.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And in those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
English Revised Version
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Berean Standard Bible
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
In tho daies was no kyng in Israel, but ech man dide this, that semyde riytful to hym silf.
Young's Literal Translation
in those days there is no king in Israel, each that which is right in his own eyes doth.
Update Bible Version
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Webster's Bible Translation
In those days [there was] no king in Israel, [but] every man did [that which was] right in his own eyes.
World English Bible
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
New King James Version
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
New Living Translation
In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
New Life Bible
There was no king in Israel in those days. Each man did what he thought was right.
New Revised Standard
In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
In those days, there was no king in Israel, - every man did, that which was right in his own eyes.
Douay-Rheims Bible
In those days there was no king in Israel, but every one did that which seemed right to himself.
Revised Standard Version
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.
THE MESSAGE
In those days there was no king in Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

Contextual Overview

1 There was once a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim. 2 He told his mother, "When someone stole those eleven hundred pieces of silver from you, you put a curse on the robber. I heard you do it. Look, I have the money. I am the one who took it." His mother said, "May the Lord bless you, my son!" 3 He gave the money back to his mother, and she said, "To keep the curse from falling on my son, I myself am solemnly dedicating the silver to the Lord . It will be used to make a wooden idol covered with silver. So now I will give the pieces of silver back to you." 4 Then he gave them back to his mother. She took two hundred of the pieces of silver and gave them to a metalworker, who made an idol, carving it from wood and covering it with the silver. It was placed in Micah's house. 5 This man Micah had his own place of worship. He made some idols and an ephod, and appointed one of his sons as his priest. 6 There was no king in Israel at that time; everyone did whatever they wanted.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

no king: Judges 18:1, Judges 19:1, Judges 21:3, Judges 21:25, Genesis 36:31, Deuteronomy 33:5

right: Deuteronomy 12:8, Psalms 12:4, Proverbs 12:15, Proverbs 14:12, Proverbs 16:2, Ecclesiastes 11:9, Jeremiah 44:16, Jeremiah 44:17

Reciprocal: Judges 17:1 - there was

Cross-References

Genesis 17:4
"I make this covenant with you: I promise that you will be the ancestor of many nations.
Genesis 17:6
I will give you many descendants, and some of them will be kings. You will have so many descendants that they will become nations.
Genesis 17:16
I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will become the mother of nations, and there will be kings among her descendants."
Genesis 17:17
Abraham bowed down with his face touching the ground, but he began to laugh when he thought, "Can a man have a child when he is a hundred years old? Can Sarah have a child at ninety?"
Genesis 17:20
I have heard your request about Ishmael, so I will bless him and give him many children and many descendants. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make a great nation of his descendants.
Genesis 35:11
And God said to him, "I am Almighty God. Have many children. Nations will be descended from you, and you will be the ancestor of kings.
Ezra 4:20
Powerful kings have reigned there and have ruled over the entire province of West-of-Euphrates, collecting taxes and revenue.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

In those days there was no king in Israel,.... That is, no supreme magistrate, judge, or ruler, Joshua being dead and Caleb also, and the elders contemporary with them; for what the Samaritan Chronicle says l is without foundation, that Joshua a little before his death cast a lot in the presence of the congregation, to know who should govern after him, and the lot came to one Abel, of the tribe of Judah:

[but] every man did that which was right in his own eyes; which accounts for the idolatry of Micah, there being no supreme magistrate to take cognizance of his sin, and restrain him from it, or punish him for it according to the law of God.

l Apud Hottinger. Smegma Orient. p. 522.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In those days ... - This phrase, indicating distinctly that the writer lived after the establishment of the kingly government in Israel, is unique to the author of these last five chapters.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 17:6. There was no king in Israel — The word מלך melech, which generally means king, is sometimes taken for a supreme governor, judge, magistrate, or ruler of any kind; (see Genesis 36:31, and Deuteronomy 33:5); and it is likely it should be so understood here.

Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. — He was his own governor, and what he did he said was right; and, by his cunning and strength, defended his conduct. When a man's own will, passions, and caprice, are to be made the rule of law, society is in a most perilous and ruinous state. Civil government is of God; and without it the earth must soon be desolated. There was a time when there was no king in England; and that was, in general, a time of scandal to religion, and oppression to men.


 
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