Judges 21:11

11 This is the thing you will do: {you will destroy} every man and {every woman who had sex 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 The people were counted, and no one was there from the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead.

10 And the congregation sent there twelve thousand men from the troops, and they commanded them, saying, "Go, strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with {the edge of the sword}, and the women and children.

11 This is the thing you will do: {you will destroy} every man and {every woman who had sex with a man}."

12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had not {had sex with a man}, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which [is] in the land of Canaan.

13 Then the congregation sent and spoke all [this] to the descendants of Benjamin who [were] at the rock of Rimmon, and {they assured them they would not be hurt}.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "you will devote to destruction"
• [b] Literally "every woman who knows the bed of a man"