Judges 21
1 Now the children of Israel swore in Massephath, saying, No man of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.
Now the men of Israel had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, Not one of us will give his daughter as a wife to Benjamin.
2 And the people came to Baethel, and sat there until evening before God: and they lifted up their voice and wept with a great weeping;
And the people came to Beth-el, waiting there till evening before God, and gave themselves up to bitter weeping.
3 and said, Wherefore, O Lord God of Israel, has this come to pass, that to-day one tribe should be counted [as missing] from Israel?
And they said, O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this fate come on Israel, that today one tribe has been cut off from Israel?
4 And it came to pass on the morrow that the people rose up early, and built there an altar, and offered up whole-burnt-offerings and peace offerings.
Then on the day after, the people got up early and made an altar there, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings.
5 And the children of Israel said, Who of all the tribes of Israel, went not up in the congregation to the Lord? for there was a great oath concerning those who went not up to the Lord to Massephath, saying, He shall surely be put to death.
And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel, who did not come up to the Lord at the meeting of all Israel? For they had taken a great oath that whoever did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord was to be put to death.
6 And the children of Israel relented toward Benjamin their brother, and said, To-day one tribe is cut off from Israel.
And the children of Israel were moved with pity for Benjamin their brother, saying, Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel.
7 What shall we do for wives for the rest that remain? whereas we have sworn by the Lord, not to give them of our daughters for wives.
What are we to do about wives for those who are still living? For we have taken an oath by the Lord that we will not give them our daughters for wives.
8 And they said, What one [man is there] of the tribes of Israel, who went not up to the Lord to Massephath? and, behold, no man came to the camp from Jabis Galaad to the assembly.
And they said, Which one of the tribes of Israel did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord? And it was seen that no one had come from Jabesh-gilead to the meeting.
9 And the people were numbered, and there was not there a man from the inhabitants of Jabis Galaad.
For when the people were numbered, not one man of the people of Jabesh-gilead was present.
10 And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the strongest, and they charged them, saying, Go ye and smite the inhabitants of Jabis Galaad with the edge of the sword.
So they (the meeting) sent twelve thousand of the best fighting-men, and gave them orders, saying, Go and put the people of Jabesh-gilead to the sword without mercy, with their women and their little ones.
11 And this shall ye do: every male and every woman that has known the lying with man ye shall devote [to destruction], but the virgins ye shall save alive: and they did so.
And this is what you are to do: every male, and every woman who has had sex relations with a man, you are to put to the curse, but you are to keep safe the virgins. And they did so.
12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabis Galaad four hundred young virgins, who had not known man by lying with him; and they brought them to Selom in the land of Chanaan.
Now there were among the people of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had never had sex relations with a man; these they took to their tents in Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
13 And all the congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin in the rock Remmon, and invited them to [make] peace.
And all the meeting sent to the men of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, offering them peace.
14 And Benjamin returned to the children of Israel at that time, and the children of Israel gave them the women whom they [had] save alive of the daughters of Jabis Galaad; and they were content.
Then Benjamin came back; and they gave them the women whom they had kept from death among the women of Jabesh-gilead: but still there were not enough for them.
15 And the people relented for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
And the people were moved with pity for Benjamin, because the Lord had let his wrath loose on the tribes of Israel.
16 And the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for wives for them that remain? for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin.
Then the responsible men of the meeting said, What are we to do about wives for the rest of them, seeing that the women of Benjamin are dead?
17 And they said, [There must be] an inheritance of them that are escaped of Benjamin; and [so] a tribe shall not be destroyed out of Israel.
And they said, How is the rest of Benjamin to be given offspring so that one tribe of Israel may not be put out of existence,
18 For we shall not be able to give them wives of our daughters, because we swore among the children of Israel, saying, Cursed [is] he that gives a wife to Benjamin.
Seeing that we may not give them our daughters as wives? For the children of Israel had taken an oath, saying, Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.
19 And they said, Lo! now [there is] a feast of the Lord from year to year in Selom, which is on the north of Baethel, eastward on the way that goes up from Baethel to Sychem, and from the south of Lebona.
And they said, See, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway which goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
20 And they charged the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;
And they said to the men of Benjamin, Go into the vine-gardens, waiting there secretly,
21 and ye shall see; and lo! if there come out the daughters of the inhabitants of Selom to dance in dances, then shall ye go out of the vineyards and seize for yourselves every man a wife of the daughters of Selom, and go ye into the land of Benjamin.
And watching; and if the daughters of Shiloh come out to take part in the dances, then come from the vine-gardens and take a wife for every one of you from among the daughters of Shiloh, and go back to the land of Benjamin.
22 And it shall come to pass, when their fathers or their brethren come to dispute with us, that we will say to them, Grant them freely to us, for we have not taken every man his wife in the battle: because ye did not give to them according to the occasion, ye transgressed.
And when their fathers or their brothers come and make trouble, you are to say to them, Give them to us as an act of grace; for we did not take them as wives for ourselves in war; and if you yourselves had given them to us you would have been responsible for the broken oath.
23 And the children of Benjamin did so; and they took wives according to their number from the dancers whom they seized: and they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and dwelt in them.
So the men of Benjamin did this, and got wives for themselves for every one of their number, taking them away by force from the dance; then they went back to their heritage, building up their towns and living in them.
24 And the children of Israel went thence at that time every man to his tribe and his kindred; and they went thence every man to his inheritance.
Then the children of Israel went away from there, every man to his tribe and his family, every man went back to his heritage.
25 And in those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own sight.
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did what seemed right to him.
