Judges 21:11

And this is what you shall observe: Every male, and all women that have known men, you shall kill, but the virgins you shall save.

Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner, 1752)

In The King James Version

And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.

In Context

10So they sent ten thousand of the most valiant men, and commanded them, saying: Go and put the inhabitants of Jabes Galaad to the sword, with their wives and their children.

12And there were found of Jabes Galaad four hundred virgins, that had not known the bed of a man, and they brought them to the camp in Silo, into the land of Chanaan.

Read all of Judges 21

Cross References

Numbers 31:17Therefore kill all that are of the male sex, even of the children: and put to death the women, that have carnally known men. Of children... Women and children, ordinarilly speaking, were not to be killed in war, Deut. 20.14. But the great Lord of life and death was pleased to order it otherwise in the present case, in detestation of the wickedness of this people, who by the counsel of Balaam, had sent their women among the Israelites on purpose to draw them from God.

Matthew Henry on Judges 21:2-16

Lamentation for the Benjamites; Wives Provided for the Benjamites. ( b. c. 1409.) 1 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. 2 And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; 3 And said, O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel? 4 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early,… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Judges 21:11