What Does Judges 21:18 Mean?
But we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed is the one who gives a wife to Benjamin.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.THE KEY
The oath has become its own trap: words meant to forbid a marriage now bind the community to the consequences of its speech.
THE MEANING
The community cannot give daughters to Benjamin because it has declared a curse on anyone who does. The oath still governs the present, narrowing what can be chosen and binding the people to the consequences of their own words.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a vow’s consequences end when the words are spoken; here, the oath continues to restrict what the whole community can do.
THE ROOT
נִשְׁבַּעְנוּ
nishba'nu
GROWS FROM
שׁבע
sh-b-ʿ
Swear, take an oath; the same consonants also form the Hebrew word for seven.
“sworn” in this verse is nishba'nu. The same consonants form שֶׁבַע (sheva, “seven”), and Genesis 21:31 brings swearing and seven together in the name Beersheba. Here, the oath is a binding utterance whose force remains after it is spoken.
ALSO GROWS
shevuah: Oath
שְׁבוּעָה
This noun names the binding promise at the center of the verse.
sheva: Seven
שֶׁבַע
It shares the same consonants as the word for swearing; Genesis 21:31 lets the oath and seven meet in Beersheba’s name.
לָתֵת
latet
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
Give, set, place.
The infinitive translated “give” comes from a root that also means to set or place, so the act here is not only transfer but the placing of a marriage. The oath reaches into that placement and forbids it.
ALSO GROWS
natan: Give, set, place
נָתַן
These shades show how the oath governs the act of placing daughters in marriage.
mattanah: Gift
מַתָּנָה
This related noun carries the sense of something given, echoing the verse’s language of giving.
THE PATTERN
A vow turns spoken limits into real limits, governing choices after the moment of speech has passed.
If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind a binding upon his living soul, he does not pierce his word; he does according to all that goes out of his mouth.Better that you not vow than that you vow and do not make it whole.But let your word be, Yes, yes; No, no. For whatever is more than these comes from evil.THE THREAD
If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind a binding upon his living soul, he does not pierce his word; he does according to all that goes out of his mouth.Numbers 30:2 uses the same oath root, שׁבע (sh-b-ʿ), as “have sworn” here. It names the binding force that Judges 21:18 shows in action: speech becomes a constraint on what can follow.
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