Judges 2:4

unto all the children of Israel although, as ch. 1 has told, the tribes were dispersed in their various settlements. The expression, as indeed the whole situation presupposed in Judges 2:1; Judges 2:1 a, is influenced by later conceptions of national unity; cf. the editorial passages Judges 6:8; Judges 10:11.

lifted up their voice, and wept Similarly at Beth-el Judges 21:2.