Judges 21

All 25 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.

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1. 1Back at Mizpah, the men of Israel had sworn an oath: "None of us will give our daughters in marriage to anyone from the tribe of Benjamin."
2. 2The people came to the house of God and stayed there before God until evening, weeping loudly and bitterly.
3. 3They cried out, "LORD, God of Israel, why has this happened? Why is an entire tribe now missing from Israel?"
4. 4The next morning, the people got up early, built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
5. 5Then the Israelites asked, "Who among all the tribes of Israel didn't come to the assembly before the LORD?" They had sworn a solemn oath that anyone who failed to appear before the LORD at Mizpah would be put to death.
6. 6The children of Israel repented for Benjamin, their brother, and said, "Today, one tribe has been cut off from Israel."
7. 7"How can we find wives for the men who survived? We swore an oath to the LORD that we wouldn't give any of our daughters to them in marriage."
8. 8So they asked, "Did any tribe fail to come before the LORD at Mizpah?" When they checked, they discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the assembly.
9. 9A count of the people confirmed it — not a single person from Jabesh Gilead was there.
10. 10So the assembly sent twelve thousand of their bravest warriors with these orders: 'Go and strike down everyone living in Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword—men, women, and children.'
11. 11Here's exactly what you must do: kill every man and every woman who has slept with a man."
12. 12Among the people of Jabeshgilead, they found four hundred young women who had never slept with a man. They brought them to the camp at Shiloh, in the land of Canaan.
13. 13The whole assembly then sent messengers to the surviving Benjaminites hiding at the rock of Rimmon, offering them peace.
14. 14The men of Benjamin returned, and the Israelites gave them the women they had spared from Jabesh Gilead. But there still weren't enough wives for all of them.
15. 15And the people repented for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
16. 16The elders of the assembly said, "What can we do to find wives for the men who are left? All the women of Benjamin have been killed."
17. 17They said, "The survivors of Benjamin must have an inheritance, so that a tribe is not destroyed from Israel."
18. 18But we can't give them our own daughters, because the Israelites swore an oath: 'Cursed is anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin.'"
19. 19Then they said, "Look, there is a yearly feast of the LORD in Shiloh, at a place north of Bethel, east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah."
20. 20So they told the men of Benjamin, "Go hide in the vineyards.
21. 21Watch for the young women of Shiloh to come out and dance during the festival. When they do, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you grab a wife for yourself. Then head back to the land of Benjamin.
22. 22When their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we will say to them, 'Please be favorable to them for our sakes, because we did not reserve a wife for each man during the war. You did not give your daughters to them at this time, so you are not guilty.'
23. 23The men of Benjamin did exactly that. Each one grabbed a wife from among the dancers and carried her off. Then they returned to their own territory, rebuilt their towns, and settled in them.
24. 24After that, the rest of the Israelites left and went home — each man returning to his own tribe, his own family, and his own land.
25. 25In those days, there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.