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Judges 21:12

in Judges 21

So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young women who had not had relations with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, that had not known man by lying with him; and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

KJV

And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh–gilead 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.

This verse in Judges 21

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
To Shiloh - Whither, as the usual place of meeting for the national assembly, the Israelites had moved from Bethel (a distance of about 10 miles), during the expedition of the 12,000 to Jabesh-Gilead.

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.

This site's exposition

four hundred young women

Barnes explains that the assembly had moved from Bethel to Shiloh, about ten miles, while the twelve thousand were away at Jabesh-gilead. Shiloh was the usual meeting place of the national assembly. The captives are brought there.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins,....

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.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Four hundred virgin maids They placed them over the openings of wine barrels. Those with carnal knowledge emitted an aroma, the virgins did not. 3 Yevamos,:b.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Judges 21:12:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

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.

  • וַֽיִּמְצְא֞וּand they found

    vaiyimtzeuH4672 →455 times

  • מִיּוֹשְׁבֵ֣י׀of [the] inhabitants of

    miyosheveiH3427 →1079 times

  • יָבֵ֣ישׁJabesh

    yaveishH3003 →24 times

  • גִּלְעָ֗דGilead

    giladH1568 →134 times

  • אַרְבַּ֤עfour

    ʾarba'H702 →318 times

  • מֵאוֹת֙hundred<s>

    meotH3967 →581 times

  • נַעֲרָ֣הyoung woman

    naarahH5291 →63 times

  • בְתוּלָ֔הvirgin[s]

    vetulahH1330 →

  • אֲשֶׁ֧רwho

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • יָדְעָ֛הshe had known

    yadeahH3045 →945 times

  • אִ֖ישׁa man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • לְמִשְׁכַּ֣בto lying of

    lemishkavH4904 →

  • זָכָ֑רa male

    zakharH2145 →82 times

  • וַיָּבִ֨יאוּand they brought

    vaiyaviuH935 →2568 times

  • אוֹתָ֤ם<obj.> them

    ʾotamH853 →10935 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הַֽמַּחֲנֶה֙the camp

    hamachanehH4264 →215 times

  • שִׁלֹ֔הShiloh

    shilohH7887 →32 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֖רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • בְּאֶ֥רֶץ[is] in [the] land of

    beeretzH776 →2504 times

  • כְּנָֽעַן׃ סCanaan

    kenaanH3667 →94 times

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

    Psalms 78:60

    He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 18:1

      Then the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. And though the land was subdued before them,

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 7:12

    But go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for My Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 26:6

      then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’”

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Samuel 4:10–11

      So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great—thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.

    • Judges 18:31

      So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image, and it was there the whole time the house of God was in Shiloh.

    • Psalms 78:60–64

      He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men.

  • Through

    Joshua 18:1

    Then the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. And though the land was subdued before them,

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 1:3

      Year after year Elkanah would go up from his city to worship and sacrifice to the LORD of Hosts at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the LORD.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Joshua 19:51

      These are the inheritances that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families distributed by lot to the tribes of Israel at Shiloh before the LORD at the entrance…

  • Through

    Judges 20:18

    The Israelites set out, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God, “Who of us shall go up first to fight against the Benjamites?” “Judah will be first,” the LORD replied.

    it leads to

    • Judges 20:26–27

      Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel, where they sat weeping before the LORD. That day they fasted until evening and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Judges

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