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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 NIV</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" /></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="../">NIV</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">New International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/judges/21.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="sectionhead">Wives for the Benjamites</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>The people went to Bethel, <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or to the house of God">a</a></sup></span> where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>“<span class="name">Lord</span>, God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Then the Israelites asked, “Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the <span class="name">Lord</span>?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the <span class="name">Lord</span> at Mizpah was to be put to death.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Now the Israelites grieved for the tribe of Benjamin, their fellow Israelites. “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel,” they said. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>“How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath by the <span class="name">Lord</span> not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Then they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the <span class="name">Lord</span> at Mizpah?” They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>“This is what you are to do,” they said. “Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>So the Benjamites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>The people grieved for Benjamin, because the <span class="name">Lord</span> had made a gap in the tribes of Israel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>And the elders of the assembly said, “With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>The Benjamite survivors must have heirs,” they said, “so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>We can’t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: ‘Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>But look, there is the annual festival of the <span class="name">Lord</span> in Shiloh, which lies north of Bethel, east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Do us the favor of helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war. You will not be guilty of breaking your oath because you did not give your daughters to them.’ ”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>So that is what the Benjamites did. While the young women were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>At that time the Israelites left that place and went home to their tribes and clans, each to his own inheritance.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.</p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">2</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>to the house of God</i></span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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