Judges 21

21 ¹Israel's men had sworn at Mizpah: "None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife." ²The people came to Bethel and sat there before our Father until evening, crying out and weeping bitterly. ³They said, "Why, our Father, God of Israel, has this happened in Israel—one tribe missing from Israel today?"

⁴The people rose early next day, built an altar there, and offered burnt and peace offerings. ⁵Then Israel's people asked, "Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up to the assembly, to our Father?" For they had sworn a solemn oath that whoever did not come up to our Father at Mizpah must surely be put to death. ⁶The Israelites grieved for their brother Benjamin. They said, "Today one tribe is cut off from Israel. ⁷How can we get wives for the survivors, since we swore by our Father not to give them our daughters?" ⁸Then they asked, "Which of the tribes of Israel did not come up to our Father at Mizpah?" No one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp, to the assembly. ⁹For when the people were counted, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there. ¹⁰The assembly sent 12,000 of their bravest fighters there, ordering: "Go strike the residents of Jabesh-gilead with the sword, including women and children. ¹¹Do this: devote to destruction every male, and every woman who has had relations with a man." ¹²Among Jabesh-gilead's residents they found 400 young virgins who had never slept with a man, and brought them to the camp at Shiloh, in the land of Canaan.

¹³Then the whole community sent word to the Benjaminites at the rock of Rimmon and declared peace to them. ¹⁴Benjamin returned at that time; they gave them the women kept alive from Jabesh-gilead—still not enough for them all. ¹⁵The people grieved for Benjamin, because our Father had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. ¹⁶The elders of the assembly said, "How do we get wives for the survivors, since Benjamin's women were wiped out?" ¹⁷They said, "Benjamin's survivors need an inheritance, so a tribe isn't erased from Israel. ¹⁸We cannot give them our daughters as wives, for Israel had sworn, 'Cursed is anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin.'" ¹⁹They said, "There's a yearly feast of our Father at Shiloh, north of Bethel, east of the road up from Bethel to Shechem, south of Lebonah." ²⁰And they instructed the Benjaminites, "Go and hide in the vineyards. ²¹Watch—when Shiloh's young women come out to dance, rush from the vineyards, each seize a wife from Shiloh's young women, and go to Benjamin's land. ²²When their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we'll tell them, Show them favor for our sake, since we didn't capture a wife for each in battle, and you didn't give them wives yourselves—else you'd be guilty now."

²³So Benjamin's sons did this: they took wives, one for each, from the dancers they seized, went back to their inheritance, rebuilt the cities, and lived there. ²⁴At that time the Israelites left there, each to his tribe and clan; each went out from there to his inheritance. ²⁵In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.