Judges 21:10 (DBY)

Passage

And the assembly sent thither twelve thousand men of the most valiant and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead with the edge of the sword, and the women and the children.

Nearby Context

Judges 21:8 And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpah to Jehovah? And behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-Gilead, to the congregation;

Judges 21:9 for the people were numbered, and behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead there.

Judges 21:10 And the assembly sent thither twelve thousand men of the most valiant and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead with the edge of the sword, and the women and the children.

Judges 21:11 And this is the thing which ye shall do: ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain with man.

Judges 21:12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead four hundred young women that were virgins, who had known no man by lying with any male, and they brought them to the camp, to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "assembly", "sent", "thither", "twelve", "thousand", "most", "valiant", and "commanded". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "assembly" and "sent", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 9's "for the people were numbered and behold..." into verse 11's "And this is the thing which ye...", so "assembly" and "sent" belong inside that flow. In Judges context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "assembly" and "sent" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.