Judges 21:2 (ASV)

Passage

And the people came to Beth-el, and sat there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore.

Nearby Context

Judges 21:1 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.

Judges 21:2 And the people came to Beth-el, and sat there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore.

Judges 21:3 And they said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?

Judges 21:4 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "people", "came", "beth-el", "till", "even", "before", "lifted", and "voices". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "people" and "came", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 1's "Now the men of Israel had sworn..." into verse 3's "And they said O Jehovah the God...", so "people" and "came" belong inside that flow. In Judges context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "people" and "came" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.