Judges 21
1 Now the men of Israel had made a promise at Mizpah, “None of us will give his daughter to marry a Benjamite.”
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 Then the people went to Bethel and sat there before God until the evening, and with loud voices they wept bitterly.
And the people came to Beth-el, waiting there till evening before God, and gave themselves up to bitter weeping.
3 They called out, “Why, Yahweh, God of Israel, has this happened to Israel, that one of our tribes should be missing today?”
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 The next day the people got up early and built an altar there and offered 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 The people of Israel said, “Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to Yahweh?” For they had made an important promise concerning anyone who did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah. They said, “He would certainly 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 The people of Israel had compassion for their brother Benjamin. They said, “Today one tribe has been 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 Who will provide wives for those who are left, since we have made a promise to Yahweh that we will not let any of them marry our daughters?”
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 They said, “Which of the tribes of Israel did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah?” It was found that no one had come to the assembly from Jabesh Gilead.
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 For when the people were set out in an orderly manner, behold, none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead were there.
For when the people were numbered, not one man of the people of Jabesh-gilead was present.
10 The assembly sent twelve thousand of their bravest men with instructions to go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and children.
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 “Do this: You must kill every male and every woman who has slept with a man.”
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 The men found among those living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh, in Canaan.
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 The entire assembly sent a message and told the people of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon that they were offering them peace.
And all the meeting sent to the men of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, offering them peace.
14 The Benjamites returned at that time and they were given the women of Jabesh Gilead, but there were not enough women for all of them.
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 The people were sorry for what happened to Benjamin, because Yahweh made a division between 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 Then the leaders of the assembly said, “How will we arrange wives for the Benjamites who are left, since the women of Benjamin have been killed?”
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 They said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe is not destroyed from 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 We cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the people of Israel had made a promise, 'Cursed be anyone who 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 So they said, “You know there is a feast for Yahweh every year at Shiloh (which is north of Bethel, east of the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah).”
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 They instructed the men of Benjamin, saying, “Go and hide in secret and wait in the vineyards.
And they said to the men of Benjamin, Go into the vine-gardens, waiting there secretly,
21 Watch for the time when the girls from Shiloh come out to dance, then rush out of the vineyards and each one of you should grab a wife from the girls of Shiloh, then go back to 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 When their fathers or their brothers come to protest to us, we will say to them, 'Show us favor! Let them remain because we did not get wives for each man during the war. You are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.'”
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 The people of Benjamin did so. They took the number of wives that they needed from the girls who were dancing and they carried them off to be their wives. They went and returned to the place of their inheritance. They rebuilt the towns and lived 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 Then the people of Israel left that place and went home, each one to his own tribe and clan, and each one to his own 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 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did what seemed right to him.
