Judges 21:10 (DRB)

Passage

So 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.

Nearby Context

Judges 21:8 Therefore they said: Who is there of all the tribes of Israel, that came not up to the Lord to Maspha? And, behold, the inhabitants of Jabes Galaad were found not to have been in that army.

Judges 21:9 (At that time also when they were in Silo, no one of them was found there,)

Judges 21:10 So 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.

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.

Judges 21:12 And 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.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 9's "At that time also when they were..." into verse 11's "And this is what you shall observe...", so "sent" and "thousand" 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 "sent" and "thousand" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.