Judges 21:1 (LSB)

Passage

Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.”

Nearby Context

Judges 21:1 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.”

Judges 21:2 So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening and lifted up their voices and wept bitterly.

Judges 21:3 And they said, “Why, O Yahweh, God of Israel, has this come about in Israel, so that one tribe should be missing today from Israel?”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "israel", "sworn", "mizpah", "saying", "none", "shall", "give", and "daughter". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "israel" and "sworn", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The next verse adds "So the people came to Bethel and...", so "israel" and "sworn" should be read forward into that movement. In Judges context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

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