Judges 21:11

11 This is what you are to do: Devote to destruction ^[a] every male, as well as every female who has had relations with a man.”

Judges 21:11 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 21:11

And this is the thing that ye shall do
Which they gave them in charge to execute:

ye shall utterly destroy every male;
without any reserve, young or old, married or unmarried:

and every woman that hath lain by man;
whether lawfully or unlawfully, in a married or unmarried state.

Judges 21:11 In-Context

9 For when the people were counted, none of the residents of Jabesh-gilead were there.

10 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.

11 This is what you are to do: Devote to destruction every male, as well as every female who has had relations with a man.”

12 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.

13 Then the whole congregation sent a message of peace to the Benjamites who were at the rock of Rimmon.

Footnotes

• [a]. Forms of the Hebrew cherem refer to the giving over of things or persons to the LORD, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.