Judges 21:16 (DBY)

Passage

And the elders of the assembly said, What shall we do for wives for them that remain? for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin.

Nearby Context

Judges 21:14 And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them the wives whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-Gilead; but even so they found not enough for them.

Judges 21:15 And the people repented them for Benjamin, because Jehovah had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

Judges 21:16 And the elders of the assembly said, What shall we do for wives for them that remain? for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin.

Judges 21:17 And they said, There must be a possession for those of Benjamin that have escaped, that a tribe be not blotted out of Israel.

Judges 21:18 But we cannot give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to the Benjaminites!

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "elders", "assembly", "said", "shall", "wives", "remain", "women", and "been". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "elders" and "assembly", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 15's "And the people repented them for Benjamin..." into verse 17's "And they said There must be a...", so "elders" and "assembly" 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 "elders" and "assembly" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.