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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//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 GWT</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="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GWT</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">GOD'S WORD® Translation</div><div class="chap"><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>The men of Israel had taken this oath in Mizpah: "None of us will ever let our daughters marry anyone from Benjamin." <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>The people went to Bethel and sat there in the presence of God until evening. They cried very loudly, <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>"LORD God of Israel, why has this happened among us? Why should one tribe be missing today in Israel?" <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>The next day the people got up early. They built an altar there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>The people asked, "Is there any family from Israel that did not take part in the assembly in the presence of the LORD?" They had taken a solemn oath that whoever had not come into the presence of the LORD at Mizpah must be put to death. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>The people of Israel felt sorry for their close relatives, the men of Benjamin. They said, "Today one tribe has been excluded from Israel. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>What will we do to provide wives for the men who are left? We swore to the LORD that we would not let any of our daughters marry them."</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Then they asked, "Is there any family from Israel that did not come into the presence of the LORD at Mizpah?" No one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the assembly in the camp. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>So they questioned the people, and there was no one there from Jabesh Gilead. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>The congregation sent 12,000 soldiers. They ordered them, "Go and kill the people of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and children. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>These are your directions: Claim every female who has gone to bed with a man, and claim every male. Claim them for the LORD by destroying them." <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Among the people of Jabesh Gilead they found 400 unmarried women who had never gone to bed with a man. They brought them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Then the whole congregation sent messengers to the men of Benjamin at Rimmon Rock and offered them peace. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>So the men of Benjamin came back at that time. These men were given the women from Jabesh Gilead who had been kept alive. However, the congregation had not found enough women for all of them. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>The congregation felt sorry for the people of Benjamin because the LORD had broken the unity of the tribes of Israel.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>The leaders of the congregation asked, "What should we do to provide wives for the men who are left, since the women in Benjamin have been killed?" <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>Some said, "Benjamin's men who survived must be allowed to have families. No tribe of Israel should be wiped out. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>However, we can't give them any of our daughters as wives. The people of Israel have taken an oath that whoever gives wives to the men of Benjamin is under a curse."</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Others said, "Every year the LORD's festival is held at Shiloh. Shiloh is north of Bethel, east of the highway going from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah." <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>So they told the men of Benjamin, "Hide in the vineyards and <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to take part in the dances, come out of the vineyards. Each of you catch a woman from Shiloh to be your wife. Then go back to the territory of Benjamin. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>When their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we'll tell them, 'Have pity on them, since we didn't provide a wife for each man in the battle. You won't be guilty because you didn't give them the wives yourselves.'" <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>The men of Benjamin did just that. They captured the number of wives they needed from the women who were dancing and went home. So they rebuilt their cities and lived in them. <span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>At that time the people of Israel left. Each man went to his tribe and family. They all went home.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/judges/21-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>In those days Israel didn't have a king. Everyone did whatever he considered right.</p></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of <a href="//www.godsword.org" target="_top">God's Word to the Nations</a>. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. 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