King James Version › Judges › 21

Judges

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16
• 17
• 18
• 19
• 20
• 21

1 Now the men of Is­rael had sworn in Mizpeh, say­ing, There shall not any of us give his daugh­ter unto Ben­jamin to wife. 2 And the peo­ple came to the house of God, and abode there till even be­fore God, and lift­ed up their voic­es, and wept sore; 3 And said, O LORD God of Is­rael, why is this come to pass in Is­rael, that there should be to day one tribe lack­ing in Is­rael? 4 And it came to pass on the mor­row, that the peo­ple rose ear­ly, and built there an al­tar, and of­fered burnt of­fer­ings and peace of­fer­ings. 5 And the chil­dren of Is­rael said, Who is there among all the tribes of Is­rael that came not up with the con­gre­ga­tion unto the LORD? For they had made a great oath con­cern­ing him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, say­ing, He shall sure­ly be put to death. 6 And the chil­dren of Is­rael re­pent­ed them for Ben­jamin their broth­er, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Is­rael this day. 7 How shall we do for wives for them that re­main, see­ing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daugh­ters to wives? 8 And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Is­rael that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, be­hold, there came none to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the as­sem­bly. 9 For the peo­ple were num­bered, and, be­hold, there were none of the in­hab­i­tants of Jabeshgilead there. 10 And the con­gre­ga­tion sent thith­er twelve thou­sand men of the valiantest, and com­mand­ed them, say­ing, Go and smite the in­hab­i­tants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the wom­en and the chil­dren. 11 And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall ut­ter­ly de­stroy ev­ery male, and ev­ery wom­an that hath lain by man. 12 And they found among the in­hab­i­tants of Jabeshgilead four hun­dred young vir­gins, that had known no man by ly­ing with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 13 And the whole con­gre­ga­tion sent some to speak to the chil­dren of Ben­jamin that were in the rock Rim­mon, and to call peace­ably unto them. 14 And Ben­jamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the wom­en of Jabeshgilead: and yet so they suf­ficed them not. 15 And the peo­ple re­pent­ed them for Ben­jamin, be­cause that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Is­rael. 16 Then the el­ders of the con­gre­ga­tion said, How shall we do for wives for them that re­main, see­ing the wom­en are de­stroyed out of Ben­jamin? 17 And they said, There must be an in­her­i­tance for them that be es­caped of Ben­jamin, that a tribe be not de­stroyed out of Is­rael. 18 How­beit we may not give them wives of our daugh­ters: for the chil­dren of Is­rael have sworn, say­ing, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Ben­jamin. 19 Then they said, Be­hold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh year­ly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the high­way that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. 20 There­fore they com­mand­ed the chil­dren of Ben­jamin, say­ing, Go and lie in wait in the vine­yards; 21 And see, and, be­hold, if the daugh­ters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vine­yards, and catch you ev­ery man his wife of the daugh­ters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Ben­jamin. 22 And it shall be, when their fa­thers or their brethren come unto us to com­plain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes: be­cause we re­served not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty. 23 And the chil­dren of Ben­jamin did so, and took them wives, ac­cord­ing to their num­ber, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and re­turned unto their in­her­i­tance, and re­paired the cities, and dwelt in them. 24 And the chil­dren of Is­rael de­part­ed thence at that time, ev­ery man to his tribe and to his fam­i­ly, and they went out from thence ev­ery man to his in­her­i­tance. 25 In those days there was no king in Is­rael: ev­ery man did that which was right in his own eyes.