Judges 21:1

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

600 Brides for 600 Brothers The Israelites had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying,“Not one of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite.”

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Referenced Verses

  • Judg 20:1 : 1 Civil War Breaks Out All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba and from the land of Gilead left their homes and assembled together before the LORD at Mizpah.
  • Judg 20:8 : 8 All Israel rose up in unison and said,“Not one of us will go home! Not one of us will return to his house!
  • Judg 21:18 : 18 But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, for the Israelites took an oath, saying,‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’
  • Eccl 5:2 : 2 (5:1) Do not be rash with your mouth or hasty in your heart to bring up a matter before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth! Therefore, let your words be few.
  • Jer 4:2 : 2 You must be truthful, honest and upright when you take an oath saying,‘As surely as the LORD lives!’ If you do, the nations will pray to be as blessed by him as you are and will make him the object of their boasting.”
  • Mark 6:23 : 23 He swore to her,“Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”
  • Acts 23:12 : 12 The Plot to Kill Paul When morning came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul.
  • Rom 10:2 : 2 For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not in line with the truth.
  • 1 Sam 14:24 : 24 Jonathan Violates Saul’s Oath Now the men of Israel were hard pressed that day, for Saul had made the army agree to this oath:“Cursed be the man who eats food before evening! I will get my vengeance on my enemies!” So no one in the army ate anything.
  • 1 Sam 14:28-29 : 28 Then someone from the army informed him,“Your father put the army under a strict oath saying,‘Cursed be the man who eats food today!’ That is why the army is tired.” 29 Then Jonathan said,“My father has caused trouble for the land. See how my eyes gleamed when I tasted just a little of this honey.
  • Exod 34:12-16 : 12 Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it become a snare among you. 13 Rather you must destroy their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles. 14 For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 15 Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone invites you, you will eat from his sacrifice; 16 and you then take his daughters for your sons, and when his daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will make your sons prostitute themselves to their gods as well.
  • Deut 7:2-3 : 2 and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy! 3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
  • Judg 11:30-31 : 30 Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, saying,“If you really do hand the Ammonites over to me, 31 then whoever is the first to come through the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites– he will belong to the LORD and I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”
  • Judg 20:10 : 10 We will take ten of every group of a hundred men from all the tribes of Israel(and a hundred of every group of a thousand, and a thousand of every group of ten thousand) to get supplies for the army. When they arrive in Gibeah of Benjamin they will punish them for the atrocity which they committed in Israel.”
  • Judg 21:5 : 5 The Israelites asked,“Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the LORD?”They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the LORD at Mizpah must certainly be executed.
  • Judg 21:7 : 7 How can we find wives for those who are left? After all, we took an oath in the LORD’s name not to give them our daughters as wives.”

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Judg 21:12-24
    13 verses
    88%

    12They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young girls who were virgins who had never been intimate with a man in bed. They brought them back to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

    13The entire assembly sent messengers to the Benjaminites at the cliff of Rimmon and assured them they would not be harmed.

    14The Benjaminites returned at that time, and the Israelites gave to them the women they had spared from Jabesh Gilead. But there were not enough to go around.

    15The people regretted what had happened to Benjamin because the LORD had weakened the Israelite tribes.

    16The leaders of the assembly said,“How can we find wives for those who are left? After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out.

    17The remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out.

    18But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, for the Israelites took an oath, saying,‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’

    19However, there is an annual festival to the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel(east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem) and south of Lebonah.”

    20So they commanded the Benjaminites,“Go hide in the vineyards,

    21and keep your eyes open. When you see the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration, jump out from the vineyards. Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin.

    22When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, we’ll say to them,“Do us a favor and let them be, for we could not get each one a wife through battle. Don’t worry about breaking your oath! You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’”

    23The Benjaminites did as instructed. They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives. They went home to their own territory, rebuilt their cities, and settled down.

    24Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property.

  • Judg 21:5-8
    4 verses
    87%

    5The Israelites asked,“Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the LORD?”They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the LORD at Mizpah must certainly be executed.

    6The Israelites regretted what had happened to their brother Benjamin. They said,“Today we cut off an entire tribe from Israel!

    7How can we find wives for those who are left? After all, we took an oath in the LORD’s name not to give them our daughters as wives.”

    8So they asked,“Who from all the Israelite tribes did not assemble before the LORD at Mizpah?” Now it just so happened no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the gathering.

  • 2So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, weeping loudly and uncontrollably.

  • 3The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. Then the Israelites said,“Explain how this wicked thing happened!”

  • 73%

    10We will take ten of every group of a hundred men from all the tribes of Israel(and a hundred of every group of a thousand, and a thousand of every group of ten thousand) to get supplies for the army. When they arrive in Gibeah of Benjamin they will punish them for the atrocity which they committed in Israel.”

    11So all the men of Israel gathered together at the city as allies.

    12The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying,“How could such a wicked thing take place?

    13Now, hand over the good-for-nothings in Gibeah so we can execute them and purge Israel of wickedness.” But the Benjaminites refused to listen to their Israelite brothers.

    14The Benjaminites came from their cities and assembled at Gibeah to make war against the Israelites.

  • 30“We will not give our daughters in marriage to the neighboring peoples, and we will not take their daughters in marriage for our sons.

  • 25So I entered a complaint with them. I called down a curse on them, and I struck some of the men and pulled out their hair. I had them swear by God saying,“You will not marry off your daughters to their sons, and you will not take any of their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!

  • 37My master made me swear an oath. He said,‘You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living,

  • 71%

    19The Israelites got up the next morning and moved against Gibeah.

    20The men of Israel marched out to fight Benjamin; they arranged their battle lines against Gibeah.

    21The Benjaminites attacked from Gibeah and struck down twenty-two thousand Israelites that day.

  • 1Civil War Breaks Out All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba and from the land of Gilead left their homes and assembled together before the LORD at Mizpah.

  • Josh 9:18-19
    2 verses
    70%

    18The Israelites did not attack them because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them in the name of the LORD God of Israel. The whole community criticized the leaders,

    19but all the leaders told the whole community,“We swore an oath to them in the name of the LORD God of Israel. So now we can’t hurt them!

  • 3so that I may make you solemnly promise by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living.

  • 8All Israel rose up in unison and said,“Not one of us will go home! Not one of us will return to his house!

  • 70%

    23The Israelites went up and wept before the LORD until evening. They asked the LORD,“Should we again march out to fight the Benjaminites, our brothers?” The LORD said,“Attack them!”

    24So the Israelites marched toward the Benjaminites the next day.

    25The Benjaminites again attacked them from Gibeah and struck down eighteen thousand sword-wielding Israelite soldiers.

  • 17An Outcast Becomes a General The Ammonites assembled and camped in Gilead; the Israelites gathered together and camped in Mizpah.

  • 50If you mistreat my daughters or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one else is with us, realize that God is witness to your actions.”

  • 69%

    31The Benjaminites attacked the army, leaving the city unguarded. They began to strike down their enemy just as they had done before. On the main roads(one leads to Bethel, the other to Gibeah) and in the field, they struck down about thirty Israelites.

    32Then the Benjaminites said,“They are defeated just as before.” But the Israelites said,“Let’s retreat and lure them away from the city into the main roads.”

  • 39the Israelites counterattacked. Benjamin had begun to strike down the Israelites; they struck down about thirty men. They said,“There’s no doubt about it! They are totally defeated as in the earlier battle.”

  • 17The men of Israel(not counting Benjamin) had mustered four hundred thousand sword-wielding soldiers, every one an experienced warrior.

  • 17The men said to her,“We are not bound by this oath you made us swear unless the following conditions are met:

  • 16Then we will give you our daughters to marry, and we will take your daughters as wives for ourselves, and we will live among you and become one people.

  • 21The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the Israelite clans:

  • 8And every daughter who possesses an inheritance from any of the tribes of the Israelites must become the wife of a man from any family in her father’s tribe, so that every Israelite may retain the inheritance of his fathers.