Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageHe had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He arranged his daughters' marriages outside his own clan and brought in thirty women from outside clans as wives for his sons. He judged Israel for seven years.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GHe had thirty sons and thirty daughters. His daughters he sent out to marry outside his clan, and thirty daughters he brought in from outside as wives for his sons. He judged Yisra'el for seven years.
KJV
King James VersionAnd he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters, whom he sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleHe had thirty sons, as well as thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage to men outside his clan; and for his sons he brought back thirty wives from elsewhere. Ibzan judged Israel seven years.
Footnotes
The marriage pattern attributed to Ibzan describes deliberate exogamy on an extraordinary scale — sixty marriages brokered across clan or tribal lines. In the ancient Near East, such strategic intermarriage was the primary mechanism of alliance-building and peacekeeping. The symmetry of the numbers (thirty sons, thirty daughters out, thirty daughters in) creates a perfect social ledger suggesting both prosperity and diplomatic mastery. The verbs *shilach* ('sent out') and *heivi* ('brought in') carry the directional force of active transaction — Ibzan is a shrewd negotiator, not merely a passive patriarch. FOG preserves this directionality; FOG Message makes the agency explicit with 'arranged.' The account stands in quiet contrast to the preceding bloodshed: Ibzan's world is held together by alliances, not axes.