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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 ESV</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" 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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">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/judges/21.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Wives Provided for the Tribe of Benjamin</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, “No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>And the people came to Bethel and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>And they said, “O <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>And the next day the people rose early and built there an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>And the people of Israel said, “Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>?” For they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come up to the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> to Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>And the people of Israel had compassion for Benjamin their brother and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel this day. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> that we will not give them any of our daughters for wives?”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>And they said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> to Mizpah?” And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead, to the assembly. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>For when the people were mustered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>So the congregation sent 12,000 of their bravest men there and commanded them, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword; also the women and the little ones. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>This is what you shall do: every male and every woman that has lain with a male you shall devote to destruction.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Then the whole congregation sent word to the people of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon and proclaimed peace to them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>And Benjamin returned at that time. And they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead, but they were not enough for them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>And the people had compassion on Benjamin because the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Yet we cannot give them wives from our daughters.” For the people of Israel had sworn, “Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>So they said, “Behold, there is the yearly feast of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>And they commanded the people of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in ambush in the vineyards <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Grant them graciously to us, because we did not take for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty.’” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>And the people of Benjamin did so and took their wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and lived in them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>And the people of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/21-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.</p></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. 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