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Judges 21:8

in Judges 21

So they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to come up before the LORD at Mizpah?” And, in fact, no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp for the assembly.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up unto Jehovah to Mizpah? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.

KJV

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–gilead to the assembly.

This verse in Judges 21

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

But it appears (Jud 21:11) that, besides acting in fulfilment of their oath, the Israelites had the additional object by this raid of supplying wives to the Benjamite remnant.

This site's exposition

Which one of the tribes of Israel

on Judges 21:8-9

The way out begins with a roll call rather than with a prayer. The people are numbered, one town is found missing from the assembly, and absence at the muster is the whole charge the text records against it. Jabesh sits east of the Jordan in Gilead, on ground the war against Benjamin never touched.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), and it was then resolved, before it appeared who were absent, that whatever city of Israel should be guilty of such a contempt of the public authority and interest that city should be an anathema; Jabesh-Gilead lies under that severe sentence, which might by no means be dispensed with.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

And they said, what one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the Lord?....

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 Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

There came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead - As they had sworn to destroy those who would not assist in this war, Jdg 21:5, they determined to destroy the men of Jabesh, and to leave none alive except the virgins, and to give these to the six hundred Benjamites that had escaped to the rock Rimmon. So twelve thousand men went, smote the city, and killed all the males and all the married women. The whole account is dreadful; and none could have been guilty of all these enormities but those who were abandoned of God.
Jabesh-Galead - Is here mentioned for the first time. (See marginal references.) The name of Jabesh survives only in the Wady Yabes (running down to the east bank of the Jordan), near the head of which are situated the ruins called Ed-Deir, which are identified with Jabesh-Gilead.

The words behind it

21 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.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּand they said

    vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times

  • מִ֗יwho?

    miH4310 →423 times

  • אֶחָד֙[is the] one

    ʾechadH259 →971 times

  • מִשִּׁבְטֵ֣יfrom [the] tribes of

    mishivteiH7626 →190 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֛רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • עָלָ֥הit went up

    ʾalahH5927 →890 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • יְהוָ֖הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • הַמִּצְפָּ֑ה<the> Mizpah

    hamitzpahH4709 →40 times

  • וְ֠הִנֵּהand there!

    vehinehH2009 →843 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • בָא־he had come

    va'-H935 →2568 times

  • אִ֧ישׁanyone

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֛הthe camp

    hamachanehH4264 →215 times

  • מִיָּבֵ֥ישׁfrom Jabesh

    miyaveishH3003 →24 times

  • גִּלְעָ֖דGilead

    giladH1568 →134 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הַקָּהָֽל׃the assembly

    hakahalH6951 →123 times

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

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 Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.