Judges
Judges 21
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Judges 21 — Scripture text (King James Version)
Now the men of had sworn in , saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto to wife. And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; And said, O LORD God of , why is this come to pass in , that there should be to day one tribe lacking in ? And it came to pass the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the children of said, Who is there among all the tribes of 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 , saying, He shall surely be to death. And the children of repented them for their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from this day. 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? And they said, What one is there of the tribes of that came not up to to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the camp from - to the assembly. For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of - there. And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of - with the edge of the , with the women and the children. And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man. And they found among the inhabitants of - four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to , which is in the . And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of that were in the rock , and to call peaceably unto them. And came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of -: and yet so they sufficed them not. And the people repented them for , because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of . Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of ? And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of , that a tribe be not destroyed out of . Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to . Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in yearly in a place which is the north side of , the east side of the highway that goeth up from to , and the south of . Therefore they commanded the children of , saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; And see, and, behold, if the daughters of come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of , and go to the land of . 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. And the children of 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. And the children of 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. In those days there was no king in : every man did that which was right in his own eyes.