What Does Judges 21:13 Mean?
And the whole assembly sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin who were in the rock Rimmon, and to call out wholeness to them.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them.THE KEY
Peace is called to Benjamin while they are still sheltered in the rock.
THE MEANING
The whole congregation sends a message to Benjamin and calls shalom, wholeness, to them in their refuge. The bloodshed around this moment remains visible: calling peace does not erase the wound, but it makes wholeness the word spoken across it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the assumption that peace is merely quiet after conflict: here, it is an active call sent across separation.
THE ROOT
שָׁלוֹם
shalom
GROWS FROM
שלם
To be whole or complete; in some forms, to make good or repay.
“call out wholeness” in this verse is shalom. Shalom carries more than quiet: its root joins wholeness with making good. The verse reports a call for that wholeness across a rupture, without claiming the call itself has repaired everything.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: Whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This branch shows the depth in the peace being called to Benjamin: it names wholeness.
shillem: Repay, make good
שִׁלֵּם
This branch gives the root a repairing dimension, while the verse leaves the repair itself unresolved.
וַיִּשְׁלְחוּ
wayyishlechu
GROWS FROM
שלח
To send, release, or stretch out.
“sent” in this verse is wayyishlechu. The congregation’s first action is to send; its message carries a call of shalom toward people still behind the rock. The root holds together sending and release, so peace appears as something directed across distance.
ALSO GROWS
shilluach: Sending away or dismissal
שִׁלּוּחַ
This branch echoes the verse’s act of dispatch: the message itself is sent toward Benjamin.
Shiloach: Sent; the name of a water channel or pool
שִׁלֹחַ
The name preserves the root’s sense of what is sent forth; here, what goes forth is a call of peace.
THE PATTERN
Wholeness is carried in speech as a gift or appeal toward another person or place.
The LORD lift up his face upon you, and give you wholeness.Ask for the wholeness of Jerusalem; those who love you are at ease.And into whatever house you enter, first say, Let wholeness be to this house.THE THREAD
Ask for the wholeness of Jerusalem; those who love you are at ease.Psalm 122 uses the same Hebrew שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness) called to Benjamin in Judges. In both verses, peace is directed toward a place marked by division, opening the word beyond quiet to the hope of becoming whole.
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