Judges 21:21 (KJV)

Passage

And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

Nearby Context

Judges 21:19 Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

Judges 21:20 Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;

Judges 21:21 And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

Judges 21:22 And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty.

Judges 21:23 And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "behold", "daughters", "shiloh", "come", "dance", "dances", and "vineyards". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "behold" and "daughters", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin..." into verse 22's "And it shall be when their fathers...", so "behold" and "daughters" 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 "behold" and "daughters" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.