Judges 21:25

Revised Standard Version

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

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.

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

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.

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 Then the elders of the congregation said, "What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?" ¹⁷ And they said, "There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe be not blotted out from Israel. ¹⁸ Yet we cannot give them wives of our daughters." For the people of Israel had sworn, "Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin." ¹⁹ So they said, "Behold, there is the yearly feast of the LORD at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebo'nah." ²⁰ And they commanded the Benjaminites, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, ²¹ and watch; if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and seize each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. ²² And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, 'Grant them graciously to us; because we did not take for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty.'" ²³ And the Benjaminites did so, and took their wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off; then they went and returned to their inheritance, and rebuilt the towns, and dwelt in them. ²⁴ And the people of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance. ²⁵ In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

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
and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle. At that time the Canaanites and the Per'izzites dwelt in the land.

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

Genesis 21:17
And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not; for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.

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

Genesis 29:8
But they said, "We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep."

Judges 1:15
She said to him, "Give me a present; since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water." And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

Proverbs 17:10
A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.

Proverbs 25:9
Argue your case with your neighbor himself, and do not disclose another's secret;

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

Matthew 18:15
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained 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.