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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Judges 21 NET Bible</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/judges/21.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/judges/21-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NET Bible</a> > Judges 21</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../judges/20.htm" title="Judges 20">◄</a> Judges 21 <a href="../ruth/1.htm" title="Ruth 1">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">NET Bible</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/net/esv/judges/21.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="title">600 Brides for 600 Brothers</p><p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>The Israelites had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, “Not one of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite.” <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, weeping loudly and uncontrollably. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>They said, “Why, O <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> God of Israel, has this happened in Israel?” An entire tribe has disappeared from Israel today!”</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>The next morning the people got up early and built an altar there. They offered up burnt sacrifices and token of peace. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>The Israelites asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span>?” They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> at Mizpah must certainly be executed. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>The Israelites regretted what had happened to their brother Benjamin. They said, “Today we cut off an entire tribe from Israel! <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>How can we find wives for those who are left? After all, we took an oath in the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span>’s name not to give them our daughters as wives.” <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>So they asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes did not assemble before the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> at Mizpah?” Now it just so happened no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the gathering. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>When they took roll call, they noticed none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead were there. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors against Jabesh Gilead. They commanded them, “Go and kill with your swords the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Do this: exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has had sexual relations with a male. But spare the lives of any virgins.” So they did as instructed. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young girls who were virgins – they had never had sexual relations with a male. They brought them back to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>The entire assembly sent messengers to the Benjaminites at the cliff of Rimmon and assured them they would not be harmed. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>The Benjaminites returned at that time, and the Israelites gave to them the women they had spared from Jabesh Gilead. But there were not enough to go around.</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>The people regretted what had happened to Benjamin because the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> had weakened the Israelite tribes. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>The leaders of the assembly said, “How can we find wives for those who are left? After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>The remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, for the Israelites took an oath, saying, ‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’ <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>However, there is an annual festival to the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel (east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem) and south of Lebonah.” <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>So they commanded the Benjaminites, “Go hide in the vineyards, <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>and keep your eyes open. When you see the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration, jump out from the vineyards. Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be, for we could not get each one a wife through battle. Don’t worry about breaking your oath! You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’”</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>The Benjaminites did as instructed. They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives. They went home to their own territory, rebuilt their cities, and settled down. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.</p></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><a href="http://netbible.com/">NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com.<br />Used by permission. 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