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Judges 21:10

in Judges 21

So the congregation sent 12,000 of their most valiant men and commanded them: “Go and put to the sword those living in Jabesh-gilead, including women and children.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones.

KJV

And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh–gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.

This verse in Judges 21

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest,.... That were in their army; in the Vulgate Latin version it is only 10,000; but the Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and Josephus (c), agree with the Hebrew text.

This site's exposition

the congregation sent 12,000 of their most valiant men

on Judges 21:10-12

The order to “put to the sword those living in Jabesh-gilead” carries the wording of Deuteronomy 13:15, the law for an Israelite city gone after other gods, though here the offence is absence from Mizpah. Sparing the unmarried women follows the Midian rule of Numbers 31:17 and 18, applied to a town of Israel. Verse 12 brings them to Shiloh “in the land of Canaan”, as Joshua 22:9 phrases it.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

They did not repent of their zeal against the sin; there is a holy indignation against sin, the fruit of godly sorrow, which is to salvation, not to be repented of, 2 Cor. vii. But they repented of the sad consequences of what they had done, that they had carried the matter further than was either just or necessary.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

And the congregation sent 12,000 men - A thousand from each tribe; they followed the precedent of Num 31:4.

The words behind it

22 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיִּשְׁלְחוּ־and they sent

    vaiyishlechu-H7971 →845 times

  • שָׁ֣םthere

    shamH8033 →834 times

  • הָעֵדָ֗הthe congregation

    haedahH5712 →149 times

  • שְׁנֵים־two [plus]

    sheneim-H8147 →768 times

  • עָשָׂ֥רten

    ʾasarH6240 →338 times

  • אֶ֛לֶףthousand

    ʾelefH505 →505 times

  • אִ֖ישׁman

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • מִבְּנֵ֣יfrom [the] sons of

    mibeneiH1121 →4930 times

  • הֶחָ֑יִל<the> strength

    hechayilH2428 →246 times

  • וַיְצַוּ֨וּand they commanded

    vaytzavuH6680 →494 times

  • אוֹתָ֜ם<obj.> them

    ʾotamH853 →10935 times

  • לֵאמֹ֗ר<to> saying

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • לְ֠כוּgo

    lekhuH1980 →1546 times

  • וְהִכִּיתֶ֞םand you will strike

    vehikitemH5221 →499 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • יוֹשְׁבֵ֨י[the] inhabitants of

    yosheveiH3427 →1079 times

  • יָבֵ֤שׁJabesh

    yaveshH3003 →24 times

  • גִּלְעָד֙Gilead

    giladH1568 →134 times

  • לְפִי־to [the] mouth of

    lefi-H6310 →498 times

  • חֶ֔רֶב[the] sword

    cherevH2719 →413 times

  • וְהַנָּשִׁ֖יםand the women

    vehanashimH802 →781 times

  • וְהַטָּֽף׃and the little one[s]

    vehatafH2945 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Judges 5:23

    ‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the LORD. ‘Bitterly curse her inhabitants; for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 48:10

      Cursed is the one who is remiss in doing the work of the LORD, and cursed is he who withholds his sword from bloodshed.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Judges 21:5

    The Israelites asked, “Who among all the tribes of Israel did not come to the assembly before the LORD?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to come up before…

    it leads to

    • Judges 5:23

      ‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the LORD. ‘Bitterly curse her inhabitants; for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’

  • Through

    Joshua 7:24

    Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his oxen and donkeys and sheep, his tent, and everything else…

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 15:27

      He who is greedy for unjust gain brings trouble on his household, but he who hates bribes will live.

    • 1 Timothy 6:9–10

      Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

    • Joshua 15:7

      Then the border went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor, turning north to Gilgal, which faces the Ascent of Adummim south of the ravine. It continued along the waters of En-shemesh and…

    • Joshua 7:26

      And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this…

  • Through

    1 Samuel 11:7

    He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent them by messengers throughout the land of Israel, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does…

    it leads to

    • Judges 19:29

      When he reached his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.

    • Judges 20:1

      Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Judges

The Benjaminites Take the Virgins of Jabesh-gilead — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Benjaminites Take the Virgins of Jabesh-gilead — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.