Judg 21
1
Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, There shall not any of us give
his daughter to Benjamin to wife.
2
And the people came to Beth-el, and sat there till even before God, and lifted up
their voices, and wept sore.
3
And they said, O YHWH, the God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that
there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?
4
And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an
altar, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings.
5
And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that
came not up in the assembly to YHWH? For they had made a great oath concerning him
whom came not up to YHWH to Mizpah, saying, He shall surely be put to death.
6
And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There
is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.
7
How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by YHWH that
we will not give them of our daughters to wives?
8
And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to YHWH
to Mizpah? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.
9
For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead
there.
10
And the congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the valiant, and commanded
them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword,
with the women and the little ones.
11
And this is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and
every woman that has lain by man.
12
And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins,
that had not known man by lying with him; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh,
which is in the land of Canaan.
13
And the whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin that were in
the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them.
14
And Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved
alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not.
15
And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that YHWH had made a breach in
the tribes of Israel.
16
Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that
remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?
17
And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that are escaped of Benjamin,
that a tribe be not blotted out from Israel.
18
Nevertheless we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel
had sworn, saying, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.
19
And they said, Behold, there is a feast of YHWH from year to year in Shiloh, which
is on the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beth-el
to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
20
And they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,
21
and see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances,
then come you out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters
of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
22
And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come to complain to us, that
we will say to them, Grant them graciously to us, because we took not for each man
[of them] his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, else would you now
be guilty.
23
And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number,
of them that danced, whom they carried off: and they went and returned to their inheritance,
and built the cities, and dwelt in them.
24
And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and
to his family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.
25
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his
own eyes.