This is what you are to do: Devote to destruction every male, as well as every female who has had relations with a man.”
Parallel translations
- WEB This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has lain with a man.”
- KJV And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.
- NKJV And this is the thing that you shall do: You shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has known a man intimately.”
- NASB And this is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has slept with a male.”
- NLT “This is what you are to do,” they said. “Completely destroy all the males and every woman who is not a virgin.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel was to kill every male and every married woman of Jabesh Gilead, sparing only the virgins.
Overview
The command followed the pattern of devoting a place to destruction, but here it served the pragmatic aim of finding unmarried women for Benjamin. The selective sparing of virgins makes the human calculation behind the violence painfully clear. The passage stands as a sober description of human schemes, not a model of righteousness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Num 31:17–18So now, kill all the boys, as well as every woman who has had relations with a man,
- Deut 2:34At that time we captured all his cities and devoted to destruction the people of every city, including women and children. We left no survivors.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 21:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.