In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Parallel translations
- WEB In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.
- KJV In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
- BSB In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
- NASB In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
- NLT In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
"In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." This is the key explanation of the era's chaos.
Overview
This refrain (cf. 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) diagnoses the root of Israel's disorder: the absence of godly leadership and the reign of self-will. Doing what is right in one's own eyes, rather than what is right in God's eyes, is the essence of the period's sin. The verse stirs longing for a faithful king, ultimately fulfilled in Christ, the true King who does and leads His people in what is right.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Deut 12:8You shall not do after all the things that we do here today, every man whatever is right in his own eyes;
- Prov 14:12There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
- Prov 12:15The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who is wise listens to counsel.
- Judg 21:25In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.
- Judg 19:1In those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite living on the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim, who took for himself a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah.
- Prov 16:2All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but Yahweh weighs the motives.
- Judg 18:1In those days there was no king in Israel. In those days the tribe of the Danites sought an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day, their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.
- Ps 12:4who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail. Our lips are our own. Who is lord over us?”
- Eccl 11:9Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
- Gen 36:31These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the children of Israel.
- Deut 33:5He was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together.
- Judg 21:3They said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be one tribe lacking in Israel today?”
- Jer 44:16–17“As for the word that you have spoken to us in Yahweh’s name, we will not listen to you.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 17:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.