Judges 21:25

Wycliffe Bible

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

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.

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 And the grettere men in birthe seiden, What schulen we do to the othere men, that han not take wyues? Alle the wymmen in Beniamyn felden doun, ¹⁷ and it `is to vs to puruey `with greet cure and greet studie, that o lynage be not don awey fro Israel. ¹⁸ We moun not yyue oure douytris to hem, for we ben boundun with an ooth and cursyng, bi which we seiden, Be he cursid that yyueth of hise douytris a wijf to Beniamyn. ¹⁹ And thei token a counsel, and seiden, Lo! annyuersarie solempnyte of the Lord is in Silo, whych is set at the north of the citee of Bethel, and at the eest coost of the weie that goith from Bethel to Siccyma, and at the south of the citee of Lebona. ²⁰ And thei comaundiden to the sones of Beniamyn, and seiden, Go ye, be ye hid in the vyneris; ²¹ and whanne ye seen douytris of Silo go forth bi custom to lede daunsis, go ye out of the vyneris sudeynli, and rauysche ye hem, eche man o wijf, and go ye in to the lond of Beniamyn. ²² And whanne the fadris and britheren of hem schulen come, and bigynne to pleyne and plete ayens you, we schulen seie to hem, Haue ye mercy of hem; for thei rauyschiden not hem bi riyt of fiyteris and ouercomeris, but ye `yauen not to hem preiynge that thei schulden take; and the synne is of youre part. ²³ And the sones of Beniamyn diden as it was comaundid to hem, and bi her noumbre thei rauyschiden wyues to hem, ech man o wijf, of hem that ledden daunsis. And thei yeden in to her possessioun, and bildiden citees, and dwelliden in tho. ²⁴ And the sones of Israel turneden ayen, bi lynagis and meynees, in to her tabernaclis. ²⁵ In tho dayes was no kyng in Israel, but ech man dide this, that semyde ryytful to hym silf.

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
Wherfor also strijf was maad bitwixe the keperis of flockis of Abram and of Loth. Forsothe Chananei and Feresei dwelliden in that lond in that tyme.

Genesis 21:15
And whanne the watir in the botel was endid, sche castide awei the child vndur a tre that was there;

Genesis 21:17
Forsothe the Lord herde the vois of the child, and the aungel of the Lord clepide Agar fro heuene, and seide, What doist thou, Agar? nyle thou drede, for God hath herd the vois of the child fro the place where ynne he is.

Genesis 21:22
In the same tyme Abymelech, and Ficol, prince of his oost, seide to Abraham, God is with thee in alle thingis whiche thou doist;

Genesis 29:8
Whiche answeriden, We moun not til alle scheep be gederid to gidere, and til we remouen the stoon fro the mouth of the pit to watir the flockis.

Judges 1:15
And sche answeride, Yiue thou blessyng to me, for thou hast youe a drye lond to me; yyue thou also a moyst lond with watris. And Caleph yaf to hir the moist lond aboue, and the moist lond bynethe.

Proverbs 17:10
A blamyng profitith more at a prudent man, than an hundryd woundis at a fool.

Proverbs 25:9
Trete thi cause with thi frend, and schewe thou not priuyte to a straunge man;

Proverbs 27:5
Betere is opyn repreuyng, than loue hid.

Matthew 18:15
But if thi brother synneth ayens thee, go thou, and repreue hym, bitwixe thee and hym aloone; if he herith thee, thou hast wonnun thi 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.