Judges 21
1 And the men of Israel have sworn in Mizpeh, saying, “None of us gives his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.”
When the Israeli men gathered at Mizpah [before the battle started], they vowed, “None of us will ever allow one of our daughters to marry any man from the tribe of Benjamin!”
2 And the people come to Beth-El, and sit there until the evening before God, and lift up their voice, and weep [with] a great weeping,
But now the Israelis went to Bethel and they cried loudly to Yahweh all day, until the sun went down.
3 and say, “Why, O YHWH, God of Israel, has this been in Israel—to be lacking one tribe from Israel today?”
They kept saying, “Yahweh, God of us Israeli people, [it is as though] one of the tribes of us Israelis does not exist any more! (Why has this happened to us?/It is terrible that this has happened to us!)” [RHQ]
4 And it comes to pass on the next day, that the people rise early, and build an altar there, and cause burnt-offerings and peace-offerings to ascend.
Early the next morning the people built an altar. Then they completely burned some sacrifices [on the altar], and also offered other sacrifices to maintain fellowship with God.
5 And the sons of Israel say, “Who [is] he that has not come up in the assembly to YHWH out of all the tribes of Israel?” For the great oath has been concerning him who has not come up to YHWH to Mizpeh, saying, “He is surely put to death.”
Then, because they had vowed that anyone who did not meet with them at Mizpah [to help fight the men of the tribe of Benjamin] would be killed, they asked among themselves, “Were there any of the tribes of Israel who did not come to Mizpah to meet with us in the presence of Yahweh?”
6 And the sons of Israel sigh concerning their brother Benjamin, and say, “Today there has been one tribe cut off from Israel,
The Israelis felt sorry for their fellow Israelis from the tribe of Benjamin. They said, “Today one of our Israeli tribes (has disappeared/no longer exists).
7 what do we do for them—for those who are left—for wives, since we have sworn by YHWH not to give to them from our daughters for wives?”
Yahweh heard us solemnly declare that we would not allow any of our daughters to marry any man from the tribe of Benjamin. What can we do to make certain that the men of the tribe of Benjamin who were not killed will have wives?”
8 And they say, “Who is [that] one out of the tribes of Israel who has not come up to YHWH to Mizpeh?” And behold, none has come to the camp from Jabesh-Gilead—to the assembly.
Then [one of] them asked, “What group from any of the tribes of Israel did not send any men here to Mizpah?”
9 And the people numbered themselves, and behold, there is no man from the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead.
[They realized that] when the soldiers were counted, there was no one from Jabesh-Gilead [city] who had come there.
10 And the congregation sends twelve thousand men of the sons of valor there, and commands them, saying, “Go—and you have struck the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead by the mouth of the sword, even the women and the infants.
So all the Israelis decided to send 12,000 very good soldiers to Jabesh-Gilead to kill the people there with their swords, even to kill the married women and children.
11 And this [is] the thing which you do; every male, and every woman knowing the lying of a male, you devote.”
[They told this to those men]: “This is what you must do: You must kill every man in Jabesh-Gilead. You must also kill every married woman. [But do not kill the unmarried women].”
12 And they find four hundred young women, virgins, out of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead, who have not known man by the lying of a male, and they bring them to the camp at Shiloh, which [is] in the land of Canaan.
So those soldiers [went to Jabesh-Gilead and killed all the men, married women, and children. But they] found 400 unmarried young women there. So they brought them to their camp at Shiloh, in Canaan, [across the river from the Gilead area that belonged to the tribe of Benjamin].
13 And all the congregation sends [word] and speaks to the sons of Benjamin who [are] in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaims peace to them;
Then all the Israelis [who had gathered] sent a message to the 600 men who were at Rimmon Rock. They said that they would like to make peace with them.
14 and Benjamin turns back at that time, and they give to them the women whom they have kept alive of the women of Jabesh-Gilead, and they have not found for [all of] them so.
So the men came back from Rimmon Rock. The Israelis gave to them the women from Jabesh-Gilead whom they had not killed. But there were [only 400 women. But there were] not enough women [for those 600 men].
15 And the people sighed concerning Benjamin, for YHWH had made a breach among the tribes of Israel.
The Israelis [still] felt sorry for the men of the tribe of Benjamin, because Yahweh had (decimated/almost wiped out) one of the Israeli tribes.
16 And [the] elderly of the congregation say, “What do we do to the remnant for wives—for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin?”
The Israeli leaders said, “We have killed all the married women of the tribe of Benjamin. Where can we get women to be wives of the men who are still alive?
17 And they say, “A possession of an escaped party [is] to Benjamin, and a tribe is not blotted out from Israel;
These men must have wives to give birth to children, in order that their families will continue. If that does not happen, all the people of one of the tribes of Israel will die.
18 and we are not able to give wives to them out of our daughters, for the sons of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed [is] he who is giving a wife to Benjamin.”
But we cannot allow our daughters to marry these men, because we vowed that Yahweh will curse anyone who gives one of his daughters to become a wife of any man of the tribe of Benjamin.”
19 And they say, “Behold, a festival of YHWH [is] in Shiloh, from time to time, which [is] on the north of Beth-El, at the rising of the sun, by the highway which is going up from Beth-El to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.”
Then [one of] them (had an idea/thought of something that they could do). He said, “Every year there is a festival to honor Yahweh at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel and east of the road that extends from Bethel to Shechem, and it is south of Lebonah [city].”
20 And they command the sons of Benjamin, saying, “Go—and you have laid wait in the vineyards,
So the Israeli leaders told the men of the tribe of Benjamin, “[When it is the time for that festival], go to Shiloh and hide in the vineyards.
21 and have seen, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances—then you have gone out from the vineyards, and each caught his wife out of the daughters of Shiloh for yourselves, and have gone to the land of Benjamin;
Keep watching for the young women to come out of the city to dance. [When they come out], all of you should run out of the vineyards. Each of you can seize one of the young women of Shiloh. Then you can all return to your homes [with those women].
22 and it has been, when their fathers or their brothers come in to plead to us, that we have said to them, Favor us [by] them, for we have not each taken his wife in battle, for you have not given [wives] to them at this time, [so] you are [not] guilty.”
If their fathers or brothers come to us and complain [about what you have done], we will say to them, ‘Be kind to the men of the tribe of Benjamin. When we fought them, we did not leave any women alive to become their wives, and you did not give those young women to the men from the tribe of Benjamin. [They stole them]. So you will not be guilty, [even though you said that you would not allow any of your daughters to marry one of them].’”
23 And the sons of Benjamin do so, and take women according to their number, out of the dancers whom they have seized; and they go, and return to their inheritance, and build the cities, and dwell in them.
So that is what the men of the tribe of Benjamin did. [They went to Shiloh at the time of the festival]. And when the young women were dancing, each man caught one of them and took her away and married her. Then they took their wives back to the land that God had given to them. They rebuilt their cities [that had been burned down], and they lived there.
24 And the sons of Israel go up and down there at that time, each to his tribe, and to his family; and they each go out there to his inheritance.
The other Israelis went to their homes in the areas where their tribes and clans lived, the areas that God had allotted to them.
25 In those days there is no king in Israel; each does that which is right in his own eyes.
At that time, the Israeli people did not have a king. Everyone did what they themselves thought was right.
