Judg 21:11 | NET2full | STEP | Do this : Exterminate every male , as well as every woman who has experienced a man’s bed . But spare the lives of any virgins .” So they did as instructed .

‏ Judges 21:11

11 Do this: ^{▼▼tn Heb “And this is the thing that you will do.”} Exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has experienced a man’s bed. ^{▼▼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.} But spare the lives of any virgins.” So they did as instructed. ^{▼▼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.}