Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.
And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore;
And 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?
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.
And 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.
And
the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and
said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.
How 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?
And 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.
For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there.
And 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.
And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.
And 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.
And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of
Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them.
And 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.
And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
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?
And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of
Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.
Howbeit 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.
Then they said, Behold, there is a feast
of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of
Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to
Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;
And 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.
And 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.
And 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.
And 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.
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
