Judges 21
1 The men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, “None of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjaminite.”
2 The people went to Bethel and sat there before God until evening. They raised their voices and wept bitterly.
3 They said, “Why has this happened in Israel, LORD, God of Israel? Why is one tribe missing from Israel today?”
4 The next day, the people rose early, built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.
5 The Israelites asked, “Who among all the tribes of Israel did not come up to the assembly before the LORD?” For they had made a solemn oath concerning anyone who did not come up to the LORD at Mizpah: “He must surely be put to death.”
6 The Israelites felt compassion for their brother Benjamin and said, “Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel.
7 What can we do to find wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them our daughters in marriage?”
8 They asked, “Who among the tribes of Israel did not come up to the LORD at Mizpah?” They discovered that no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp, to the assembly.
9 They counted the people, and there was no one there from the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead.
10 The assembly sent twelve thousand of its bravest men there and ordered them, “Go and strike down the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the sword, including the women and children.
11 This is what you are to do: devote to destruction every male and every woman who has slept with a man.”
12 Among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead they found four hundred young women who were virgins and had never slept with a man. They brought them to the camp at Shiloh, in the land of Canaan.
13 The whole assembly sent messengers to the Benjaminites at the rock of Rimmon, to speak with them and offer them peace.
14 At that time Benjamin returned, and the Israelites gave them the women they had spared from among the women of Jabesh-gilead. But there were not enough for them.
15 The people felt compassion for Benjamin, because the LORD had opened a breach among the tribes of Israel.
16 The elders of the assembly said, “What can we do to find wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been wiped out?”
17 They said, “The survivors of Benjamin must have an inheritance, so that a tribe will not be erased from Israel.
18 But we cannot give them wives from among our daughters.” For the Israelites had sworn, “Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin.”
19 They said, “There is an annual feast of the LORD at Shiloh, north of Bethel, east of the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”
20 They instructed the Benjaminites, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards.
21 Keep watch: when the young women of Shiloh come out to dance in circles, come out from the vineyards. Each of you seize a wife for himself from among the young women of Shiloh, then go to the land of Benjamin.
22 When their fathers or brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Please be generous to us on their account, because in the war we could not get a wife for each man. And you did not give them your daughters, so you are not guilty of breaking your oath.’”
23 The Benjaminites did so: they took wives from among the dancers they had seized, one for each man. Then they went back to their inheritance, rebuilt the towns, and settled in them.
24 At that time the Israelites left there, each for his own tribe and clan; each man went from there to his own inheritance.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what seemed right in his own eyes.
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