THE
BOOK OF JUDGES
Judges Chapter 21
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¶ Now at Mizpeh the men of
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And the people came to the house of God, and remained there before God until
evening, lifting up their voices, and weeping bitterly;
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And saying, O LORD God of
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And on the next day, the people got up early, and built an altar there, and
offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
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And the children of
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And the children of
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What shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing that we have sworn by
the LORD that we will not give our daughters to them in marriage?
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And they said, Who of the tribes of
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For when the people were numbered, not one of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead
was there.
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And the congregation sent twelve thousand men of the bravest men there, and
gave them orders, saying, Go and destroy the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with
the edge of the sword, including the women and children.
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And this is what you shall do, You shall utterly destroy every male, and
every woman who has lain with a man.
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And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young
virgins, who had never known a man by lying with him: and they brought them to
the camp at
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And the entire congregation sent messengers to the children of Benjamin who were
in the rock Rimmon, offering to make peace with them.
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And Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women that they had
saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead as wives: but they were not
enough for them.
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And the people felt sorry for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a breach in
the tribes of
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¶ Then the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for wives for
those who remain, since the women of Benjamin were killed?
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And they said, There must be an inheritance for the survivors of
Benjamin, so that a tribe shall not be blotted out of
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However we must not give them our daughters as wives: for the children of
Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.
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So they said, Behold, there is a yearly feast of the LORD at Shiloh in
a place that is north of Bethel, to the east of the road that goes
up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.
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Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait
in the vineyards;
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And watch, and see if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances,
then come out of the vineyards, and let each of you catch his wife from
the daughters of Shiloh, and return to the land of Benjamin.
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And when their fathers or their brothers complain to us, we will say to them,
Show favor to them for our sakes: because we did not reserve enough wives for
each of them in the battle: And you are not guilty of breaking your oath, since
you did not give them to them.
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And the children of Benjamin did so, and took wives for themselves,
according to their number, from the dancers, whom they caught: and they returned
to their inheritance, and repaired their cities, and lived in them.
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Then the children of Israel departed, every man according to his tribe
and family, and they each returned from there to his inheritance.
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In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did what which
was right in his own eyes.