Judges

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Chapter 21

1 Now the men of Israel had This was a rash oath, and not from judgment: for they later broke it, showing secretly the means to marry certain of their daughters. sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.

2 And the people came vnto ye house of God and abode there till euen before God, and lift vp their voyces, and wept with great lamentation,

3 And sayde, O Lorde God of Israel, why is this come to passe in Israel, that this day one tribe of Israel should want?

4 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an According to their custom, when they would consult the Lord. altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

5 Then the children of Israel said, Who is he among all the tribes of Israel, that came not vp with the Congregation vnto the Lorde? For they had made a great othe concerning him that came not vp to the Lord to Mizpeh, saying, Let him die the death.

6 And the children of Israel Or, were sorry that they had destroyed their brethren, as it appears in (Jdg_21:15). repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.

7 How shal we do for wiues to them that remaine, seeing we haue sworne by the Lorde, that we will not giue them of our daughters to wiues?

8 And they said, What one [is there] of the tribes of Israel that Condemning them as lovers of evil, who would not punish it. came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly.

9 For when the people were vewed; beholde, none of the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead were there.

10 Therefore the Congregation sent thither twelue thousande men of the most valiant, and commaunded them, saying, Goe, and smite the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, both women, and children.

11 And this is it that ye shall do: ye shall vtterly destroye all the males and all the women that haue lien by men.

12 And they found among the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead foure hundreth maides, virgins that had knowne no man by lying with any male: and they brought them vnto the hoste to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

13 And the whole congregation That is, about four months after the punishment, (Jdg_20:47). 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 For they were short two hundred. so they sufficed them not.

15 And the people were sorie for Beniamin, because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

16 Therefore the Elders of the Congregation said, How shall we doe for wiues to the remnant? for the women of Beniamin are destroyed.

17 And they said, [There must be] Benjamin must be preserved to have the twelfth portion in the inheritance of Jacob. an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.

18 Howbeit we may not giue them wiues of our daughters: for the childre of Israel had sworne, saying, Cursed be he that giueth a wise to Beniamin.

19 Then they said, Behold, [there is] a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly [in a place] which [is] on the He describes the place where the maids used to dance yearly, and sing psalms and songs of God's works among them, as the custom was then. 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 commaunded the children of Beniamin, saying, Goe, and lye in waite in the vineyardes.

21 And when ye see that the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catche you euery man a wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and goe into the land of Beniamin.

22 And it shall be, Though they attempted to convince man that they had kept their oath, before God it was broken. 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 Meaning, two hundred. 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 So the children of Israel departed thence at that time, euery man to his tribe, and to his familie, and went out from thence euery man to his inheritance.

25 In those dayes there was no King in Israel, but euery man did that which was good in his eyes.

Presented by The Common Man's Prospective. Copyright© 1999-2012 Ernest C. Marsh