And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.

And the children of Israel being moved with repentance for their brother Benjamin, began to say: One tribe is taken away from Israel.

And the people of Israel had compassion for Benjamin their brother, and said, |One tribe is cut off from Israel this day.

And the sons of Israel repent concerning Benjamin their brother, and say, 'There hath been to-day cut off one tribe from Israel,

And the children of Israel were moved with pity for Benjamin their brother, saying, Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel.

And the sons of Israel, having been led to repentance over their brother Benjamin, began to say: "One tribe has been taken away from Israel.

And the children of Israel (c) repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.
(c) Or, were sorry that they had destroyed their brethren, as it appears in (Judges 21:15).

And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother,.... Not that they went to war with them, as if their cause was not good; but for the severity they had exercised towards them, especially in destroying their women and children, and for the fatal consequences like to follow here after, particularly the dissolution of the whole tribe:
and said, there is one tribe cut off from Israel this day; that is, there is a likelihood or great danger of it.

There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day--that is, in danger of becoming extinct; for, as it appears from Judges 21:7, they had massacred all the women and children of Benjamin, and six hundred men alone survived of the whole tribe. The prospect of such a blank in the catalogue of the twelve tribes, such a gap in the national arrangements, was too painful to contemplate, and immediate measures must be taken to prevent this great catastrophe.

Repented - Not for the war, which was just and necessary, but for their immoderate severity in the execution of it. That is no good divinity which swallows up humanity. Even necessary justice is to be done with compassion.