Judges 21:25

The NET Bible®

In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.

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: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Lexham English Bible
In those days there was no king in Israel; 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
In those days Israel did not have a king. All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

Amplified Bible
In those days [when the judges governed] 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 yt which was good in his eyes.

Legacy Standard Bible
to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Contemporary English Version
In those days Israel wasn't ruled by a king, and everyone did what 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
In those days the Israelites did not have a king, so everyone did whatever they thought was right.

George Lamsa Translation
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which seemed right in his own eyes.

Good News Translation
There was no king in Israel at that time. Everyone did whatever they pleased.

Literal Translation
In those days there was no king in Israel. Each man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
At yt time was there no kynge in Israel, and euery man dyd ye thinge yt was right in his awne eies.

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 what seemed right to him.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
In those dayes there was no king in Israel: but euery man dyd that whiche seemed right 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: 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 sight.

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 dayes was no kyng in Israel, but ech man dide this, that semyde ryytful to hym silf.

Young's Literal Translation
In those days there is no king in Israel; each doth that which is right in his own eyes.

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: 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 [fn] there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

Revised Standard Version
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

THE MESSAGE
At that time 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; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Contextual Overview

¹⁶ The leaders of the assembly said, "How can we find wives for those who are left? After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out. ¹⁷ The remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out. ¹⁸ But we can't allow our daughters to marry them, for the Israelites took an oath, saying, ‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!' ¹⁹ However, there is an annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel (east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem) and south of Lebonah." ²⁰ So they commanded the Benjaminites, "Go hide in the vineyards, ²¹ and keep your eyes open. When you see the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration, jump out from the vineyards. Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin. ²² When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, we'll say to them, "Do us a favor and let them be, for we could not get each one a wife through battle. Don't worry about breaking your oath! You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.'" ²³ The Benjaminites did as instructed. They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives. They went home to their own territory, rebuilt their cities, and settled down. ²⁴ Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property. ²⁵ In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

no: Judges 17:6, Judges 18:1, Judges 19:1

right: Judges 18:7, Deuteronomy 12:8, Psalms 12:4, Proverbs 3:5, Proverbs 14:12, Ecclesiastes 11:9, Micah 2:1, Micah 2:2

Reciprocal: Hosea 9:9 - Gibeah

Cross-References

Genesis 13:7
So there were quarrels between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen. (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.)

Genesis 21:15
When the water in the skin was gone, she shoved the child under one of the shrubs.

Genesis 21:17
But God heard the boy's voice. The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Don't be afraid, for God has heard the boy's voice right where he is crying.

Genesis 21:22
At that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, "God is with you in all that you do.

Genesis 29:8
"We can't," they said, "until all the flocks are gathered and the stone is rolled off the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep."

Judges 1:15
She answered, "Please give me a special present. Since you have given me land in the Negev, now give me springs of water." So Caleb gave her both the upper and lower springs.

Proverbs 17:10
A rebuke makes a greater impression on a discerning person than a hundred blows on a fool.

Proverbs 25:9
When you argue a case with your neighbor, do not reveal the secret of another person,

Proverbs 27:5
Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

Matthew 18:15
"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The repetition of this characteristic phrase (compare Judges 17:6; Judges 18:1; Judges 19:1) is probably intended to impress upon us the idea that these disorders arose from the want of a sufficient authority to suppress them. The preservation of such a story, of which the Israelites must have been ashamed, is a striking evidence of the divine superintendence and direction as regards the Holy Scriptures.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 21:25. In those days there was no king in Israel — Let no one suppose that the sacred writer, by relating the atrocities in this and the preceding chapters, justifies the actions themselves; by no means. Indeed, they cannot be justified; and the writer by relating them gives the strongest proof of the authenticity of the whole, by such an impartial relation of facts that were highly to be discredit of his country.

I HAVE already referred to the rape of the Sabine virgins. The story is told by Livy, Hist. lib. i., cap. 9, the substance of which is as follows: Romulus having opened an asylum at his new-built city of Rome for all kinds of persons, the number of men who flocked to his standard was soon very considerable; but as they had few women, or, as Livy says, penuria mulierum, a dearth of women, he sent to all the neighbouring states to invite them to make inter-marriages with his people. Not one of the tribes around him received the proposal; and some of them insulted his ambassador, and said, Ecquod feminis quoque asylum aperuissent? Id enim demum compar connubium fore? "Why have you not also opened an asylum for WOMEN, which would have afforded you suitable matches?" This exasperated Romulus, but he concealed his resentment, and, having published that he intended a great feast to Neptune Equester, invited all the neighbouring tribes to come to it: they did so, and were received by the Romans with the greatest cordiality and friendship. The Sabines, with their wives and children, came in great numbers, and each Roman citizen entertained a stranger. When the games began, and each was intent on the spectacle before them, at a signal given, the young Romans rushed in among the Sabine women, and each carried off one, whom however they used in the kindest manner, marrying them according to their own rites with due solemnity, and admitting them to all the rights and privileges of the new commonwealth. The number carried off on this occasion amounted to near seven hundred; but this act of violence produced disastrous wars between the Romans and the Sabines, which were at last happily terminated by the mediation of the very women whose rape had been the cause of their commencement. The story may be seen at large in Livy, Plutarch, and others.

Thus ends the book of Judges; a work which, while it introduces the history of Samuel and that of the kings of Judah and Israel, forms in some sort a supplement to the book of Joshua, and furnishes the only account we have of those times of anarchy and confusion, which extended nearly from the times of the elders who survived Joshua, to the establishment of the Jewish monarchy under Saul, David, and their successors. For other uses of this book, see the preface.

MASORETIC NOTES ON THE BOOK OF JUDGES

The number of verses in this book is six hundred and eighteen.

Its Masoretic chapters are fourteen.

And its middle verse is Judges 10:8: And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel, &c.

Corrected for a new edition, December 1, 1827. - A. C.