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When they took roll call,[a] they noticed[b] none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead were there. 10 So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors[c] against Jabesh Gilead.[d] They commanded them, “Go and kill with your swords[e] the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children. 11 Do this:[f] Exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has experienced a man’s bed.[g] But spare the lives of any virgins.” So they did as instructed.[h]

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 21:9 tn Or “when the people were mustered.”
  2. Judges 21:9 tn Heb “and look.”
  3. Judges 21:10 tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”
  4. Judges 21:10 tn Heb “there.”
  5. Judges 21:10 tn Heb “the edge of the sword.”
  6. Judges 21:11 tn Heb “And this is the thing that you will do.”
  7. Judges 21:11 tn Heb “a knower of the bed of a male.” The verb יָדָע (yadaʿ) “to know,” “be intimate with,” is used as a euphemism for sexual relations.
  8. Judges 21:11 tc Some Greek witnesses (notably Codex Vaticanus [B]) add the words, “‘But the virgins you should keep alive.’ And they did so.” These additional words, which probably represent the original Hebrew text, can be retroverted: וְאֶת־הַבְּתוּלוֹת תְּחַיּוּ וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן (veʾet habbetulot tekhayyu vayyaʿasu khen). It is likely that a scribe’s eye jumped from the ו (vav) on וְאֶת (veʾet) to the initial vav of v. 11, accidentally leaving out the intervening letters. The present translation is based on this reconstruction.