Judges 21

¹Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.

²And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore;

³And said, O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel?

⁴And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

⁵And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the Lord? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the Lord to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death.

⁶And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.

⁷How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?

⁸And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the Lord? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh–gilead to the assembly.

⁹For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh–gilead there.

¹⁰And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh–gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.

¹¹And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.

¹²And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh–gilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

¹³And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them.

¹⁴And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh–gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not.

¹⁵And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

¹⁶Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?

¹⁷And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.

¹⁸Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.

¹⁹Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Beth–el, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth–el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

²⁰Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;

²¹And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

²²And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty.

²³And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.

²⁴And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.

²⁵In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Judges 21

¹Now the men of Israel had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, Not one of us will give his daughter as a wife to Benjamin.

²And the people came to Beth-el, waiting there till evening before God, and gave themselves up to bitter weeping.

³And 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?

⁴Then on the day after, the people got up early and made an altar there, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings.

⁵And 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.

⁶And the children of Israel were moved with pity for Benjamin their brother, saying, Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel.

⁷What 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.

⁸And 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.

⁹For when the people were numbered, not one man of the people of Jabesh-gilead was present.

¹⁰So 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.

¹¹And 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.

¹²Now 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.

¹³And all the meeting sent to the men of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, offering them peace.

¹⁴Then 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.

¹⁵And the people were moved with pity for Benjamin, because the Lord had let his wrath loose on the tribes of Israel.

¹⁶Then 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?

¹⁷And 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,

¹⁸Seeing 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.

¹⁹And 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.

²⁰And they said to the men of Benjamin, Go into the vine-gardens, waiting there secretly,

²¹And 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.

²²And 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.

²³So 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.

²⁴Then the children of Israel went away from there, every man to his tribe and his family, every man went back to his heritage.

²⁵In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did what seemed right to him.