Holy Bible
(King James Version)
Judges:
Chapter 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 Jabesh-gil-e-ad to the assembly.
9. For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the
inhabitants of Jabesh-gil-e-ad there.
10. And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the
valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of
Jabesh-gil-e-ad 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 Jabesh-gil-e-ad 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 the land of Ca-na-an.
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
which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gil-e-ad: 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 Beth-el, on the east
side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to She-chem, and on the
south of Le-bo-nah.
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 vinyards, 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.
Apr. 3 Daily
reading schedule.. No NT reading today.
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Art by: Penny Parker. Visit her site HERE
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