Judges 21:7 (WEB)

Passage

How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by Yahweh that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?”

Nearby Context

Judges 21:5 The children of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who didn’t come up in the assembly to Yahweh?” For they had made a great oath concerning him who didn’t come up to Yahweh to Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.”

Judges 21:6 The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “There is one tribe cut off from Israel today.

Judges 21:7 How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by Yahweh that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?”

Judges 21:8 They said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel who didn’t come up to Yahweh to Mizpah?” Behold, no one came from Jabesh Gilead to the camp to the assembly.

Judges 21:9 For when the people were counted, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shall", "provide", "wives", "remain", "since", "sworn", "yahweh", and "give". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "provide", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin..." into verse 8's "They said What one is there of...", so "shall" and "provide" 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 "shall" and "provide" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.