Judges 21
1 Now the men of Israel had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, Not one of us will give his daughter as a wife to Benjamin.
And the men of Israel have sworn in Mizpeh, saying, 'None of us doth give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.'
2 And the people came to Beth-el, waiting there till evening before God, and gave themselves up to bitter weeping.
And the people come in to Beth-El, and sit there till the evening before God, and lift up their voice, and weep — a great weeping,
3 And 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?
and say, 'Why, O Jehovah, God of Israel, hath this been in Israel — to be lacking to-day, from Israel, one tribe?'
4 Then on the day after, the people got up early and made an altar there, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings.
And it cometh to pass on the morrow, that the people rise early, and build there an altar, and cause to ascend burnt-offerings and peace-offerings.
5 And 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.
And the sons of Israel say, 'Who [is] he that hath not come up in the assembly out of all the tribes of Israel unto Jehovah?' for the great oath hath been concerning him who hath not come up unto Jehovah to Mizpeh, saying, 'He is surely put to death.'
6 And the children of Israel were moved with pity for Benjamin their brother, saying, Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel.
And the sons of Israel repent concerning Benjamin their brother, and say, 'There hath been to-day cut off one tribe from Israel,
7 What 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.
what do we do for them — for those who are left — for wives, and we — we have sworn by Jehovah not to give to them of our daughters for wives?'
8 And 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.
And they say, 'Who is [that] one out of the tribes of Israel who hath not come up unto Jehovah to Mizpeh?' and lo, none hath come in unto the camp from Jabesh-Gilead — unto the assembly.
9 For when the people were numbered, not one man of the people of Jabesh-gilead was present.
And the people numbered themselves, and lo, there is not there a man of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead.
10 So 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.
And the company send there twelve thousand men of the sons of valour, and command them, saying, 'Go — and ye have smitten the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead by the mouth of the sword, even the women and the infants.
11 And 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.
And this [is] the thing which ye do; every male, and every woman knowing the lying of a male, ye devote.'
12 Now 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.
And they find out of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead four hundred young women, virgins, who have not known man by the lying of a male, and they bring them in unto the camp at Shiloh, which [is] in the land of Canaan.
13 And all the meeting sent to the men of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, offering them peace.
And all the company send, and speak, unto the sons of Benjamin who [are] in the rock Rimmon, and proclaim to them peace;
14 Then 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.
and Benjamin turneth back at that time, and they give to them the women whom they have kept alive of the women of Jabesh-Gilead, and they have not found for [all of] them so.
15 And the people were moved with pity for Benjamin, because the Lord had let his wrath loose on the tribes of Israel.
And the people repented concerning Benjamin, for Jehovah had made a breach among the tribes of Israel.
16 Then 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?
And the elders of the company say, 'What do we do to the remnant for wives — for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin?'
17 And 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,
And they say, 'A possession of an escaped party [is] to Benjamin, and a tribe is not blotted out from Israel;
18 Seeing 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.
and we — we are not able to give to them wives out of our daughters, for the sons of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed [is] he who is giving a wife to Benjamin.'
19 And 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.
And they say, 'Lo, a festival of Jehovah [is] in Shiloh, from time to time, which [is] on the north of Beth-El, at the rising of the sun, by the highway which is going up from Beth-El to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.'
20 And they said to the men of Benjamin, Go into the vine-gardens, waiting there secretly,
And they command the sons of Benjamin, saying, 'Go — and ye have laid wait in the vineyards,
21 And 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.
and have seen, and lo, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances — then ye have gone out from the vineyards, and caught for you each his wife out of the daughters of Shiloh, and gone to the land of Benjamin;
22 And 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.
and it hath been, when their fathers or their brethren come in to plead unto us, that we have said unto them, Favour us [by] them, for we have not taken [to] each his wife in battle, for ye — ye have not given to them at this time [that] ye are guilty.'
23 So 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.
And the sons of Benjamin do so, and take women according to their number, out of the dancers whom they have taken violently away; and they go, and turn back unto their inheritance, and build the cities, and dwell in them.
24 Then the children of Israel went away from there, every man to his tribe and his family, every man went back to his heritage.
And the sons of Israel go up and down thence at that time, each to his tribe, and to his family; and they go out thence each to his inheritance.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did what seemed right to him.
In those days there is no king in Israel; each doth that which is right in his own eyes.
