The entire double conclusion is unified by the four-time repetition of the refrain (author’s translation): “In those days there was no king. . . . Every man did what was right in his own eyes” (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25).2 This refrain emphasizes through a double entendre that during the period of the judges there was no physical king, but more importantly no spiritual king! Thus, the NIV’s “everyone did as they saw fit” is literally “every man did what was right in his own eyes.”3
