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Judges 21 New American Bible
<!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=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Judges 21 New American 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" /></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 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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 American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch07021" class="chapter"> <h1 id="cn07021" class="cn"></h1> <p class="pf"><span class="hemb">Ensuring a Future for Benjamin.</span> <span id="v07021001" class="ver">1</span><a id="rfn07021001-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn07021001-1">*</a> The men of Israel took an oath at Mizpah: “None of us will give his daughter in marriage to anyone from Benjamin.” <span id="v07021002" class="ver">2</span>So the people went to Bethel and remained there before God until evening, raising their voices in bitter weeping.<a id="ren07021002-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07021002-a">a</a> <span id="v07021003" class="ver">3</span>They said, “<span class="tetr">Lord</span>, God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel that today one tribe of Israel should be lacking?” <span id="v07021004" class="ver">4</span>Early the next day the people built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and communion offerings. <span id="v07021005" class="ver">5</span>Then the Israelites asked, “Are there any among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> for the assembly?” For there was a solemn oath that anyone who did not go up to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> at Mizpah should be put to death.<a id="ren07021005-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07021005-b">b</a></p> <p><span id="v07021006" class="ver">6</span>The Israelites were disconsolate over their brother Benjamin and said, “Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel. <span id="v07021007" class="ver">7</span>What can we do about wives for the survivors, since we have sworn by the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?” <span id="v07021008" class="ver">8</span>And when they asked, “Is there one among the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> in Mizpah?” they found that none of the men of Jabesh-gilead had come to the encampment for the assembly. <span id="v07021009" class="ver">9</span>A roll call of the people was taken, and none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead<a id="ren07021009-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07021009-c">c</a> was present. <span id="v07021010" class="ver">10</span>So the assembly sent twelve thousand warriors there with orders, “Go put the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead to the sword. <span id="v07021011" class="ver">11</span>This is what you are to do: Every male and every woman who has had relations with a male you shall put under the ban.”<a id="rfn07021011-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn07021011-1">*</a> <a id="ren07021011-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07021011-d">d</a> <span id="v07021012" class="ver">12</span>Finding among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgin women, who had not had relations with a man, they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, in the land of Canaan.<a id="ren07021012-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07021012-e">e</a> <span id="v07021013" class="ver">13</span>Then the whole assembly sent word to the Benjaminites at the crag of Rimmon,<a id="ren07021013-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07021013-f">f</a> offering them peace. <span id="v07021014" class="ver">14</span><a id="rfn07021014-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn07021014-1">*</a> So Benjamin returned at that time, and they were given as wives the women of Jabesh-gilead who had been spared; but these proved to be not enough for them.</p> <p><span id="v07021015" class="ver">15</span>The people had regrets about Benjamin because the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> had made a breach among the tribes of Israel.<a id="ren07021015-g" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07021015-g">g</a> <span id="v07021016" class="ver">16</span>The elders of the assembly said, “What shall we do for wives for the survivors? For the women of Benjamin have been annihilated.”<a id="ren07021016-h" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07021016-h">h</a> <span id="v07021017" class="ver">17</span>They said, “There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be wiped out from Israel. <span id="v07021018" class="ver">18</span>Yet we cannot give them any of our daughters in marriage.” For the Israelites had taken an oath, “Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin!” <span id="v07021019" class="ver">19</span>Then they thought of the yearly feast of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> at Shiloh,<a id="ren07021019-i" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07021019-i">i</a> north of Bethel, east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah. <span id="v07021020" class="ver">20</span>And they instructed the Benjaminites, “Go and set an ambush in the vineyards. <span id="v07021021" class="ver">21</span>When you see the women of Shiloh come out to join in the dances, come out of the vineyards and catch a wife for each of you from the women of Shiloh; then go on to the land of Benjamin. <span id="v07021022" class="ver">22</span>When their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we shall say to them, ‘Release them to us as a kindness, since we did not take a woman for every man in battle. Nor did you yourselves give your daughters to them, thus incurring guilt.’ ”<a id="rfn07021022-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn07021022-1">*</a></p> <p><span id="v07021023" class="ver">23</span>The Benjaminites did this; they carried off wives for each of them from the dancers they had seized, and they went back each to his own heritage, where they rebuilt the cities and settled them. <span id="v07021024" class="ver">24</span>At that time the Israelites dispersed from there for their own tribes and clans; they set out from there each to his own heritage.</p> <p><span id="v07021025" class="ver">25</span><a id="rfn07021025-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn07021025-1">*</a> In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in their own sight.<a id="ren07021025-j" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en07021025-j">j</a></p> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. 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