Judges 21
1 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, Not any of us shall give his daughter unto Benjamin for wife.
When the Israeli men gathered at Mizpah [before the battle started], they vowed, “None of us will ever allow one of our daughters to marry any man from the tribe of Benjamin!”
2 And the people came to Beth-el, and abode there till the evening, before God, and they lifted up their voices, and wept with a great lamentation;
But now the Israelis went to Bethel and they cried loudly to Yahweh all day, until the sun went down.
3 And they said, Wherefore, O Lord, God of Israel, is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be lacking this day out of Israel one tribe?
They kept saying, “Yahweh, God of us Israeli people, [it is as though] one of the tribes of us Israelis does not exist any more! (Why has this happened to us?/It is terrible that this has happened to us!)” [RHQ]
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.
Early the next morning the people built an altar. Then they completely burned some sacrifices [on the altar], and also offered other sacrifices to maintain fellowship with God.
5 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 there had been taken the great oath concerning him that came not up to the Lord to Mizpah, saying, He shall surely be put to death.
Then, because they had vowed that anyone who did not meet with them at Mizpah [to help fight the men of the tribe of Benjamin] would be killed, they asked among themselves, “Were there any of the tribes of Israel who did not come to Mizpah to meet with us in the presence of Yahweh?”
6 And the children of Israel felt regret for Benjamin their brother, and they said, One tribe hath this day been cut down from Israel.
The Israelis felt sorry for their fellow Israelis from the tribe of Benjamin. They said, “Today one of our Israeli tribes (has disappeared/no longer exists).
7 What shall we do as respecteth wives for those that remain, since we have sworn by the Lord that we will give none of our daughters unto them for wives?
Yahweh heard us solemnly declare that we would not allow any of our daughters to marry any man from the tribe of Benjamin. What can we do to make certain that the men of the tribe of Benjamin who were not killed will have wives?”
8 And they said, what one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up unto the Lord to Mizpah? And, behold, there had not come to the camp a man from Yabesh-gil'ad to the assembly.
Then [one of] them asked, “What group from any of the tribes of Israel did not send any men here to Mizpah?”
9 For the people were numbered, and, behold, there was not present a man of the inhabitants of Yabesh-gil'ad.
[They realized that] when the soldiers were counted, there was no one from Jabesh-Gilead [city] who had come there.
10 And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand persons of the valiant men, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Yabesh-gil'ad with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.
So all the Israelis decided to send 12,000 very good soldiers to Jabesh-Gilead to kill the people there with their swords, even to kill the married women and children.
11 And this is the thing that ye shall do, every male, and every woman that hath known [man] by lying with him, shall ye devote.
[They told this to those men]: “This is what you must do: You must kill every man in Jabesh-Gilead. You must also kill every married woman. [But do not kill the unmarried women].”
12 And they found among the inhabitants of Yabesh-gil'ad four hundred young virgins that had not known man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
So those soldiers [went to Jabesh-Gilead and killed all the men, married women, and children. But they] found 400 unmarried young women there. So they brought them to their camp at Shiloh, in Canaan, [across the river from the Gilead area that belonged to the tribe of Benjamin].
13 And the whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin that were on the rock Rimmon, and offered them peace.
Then all the Israelis [who had gathered] sent a message to the 600 men who were at Rimmon Rock. They said that they would like to make peace with them.
14 And Benjamin returned at that time: and they gave unto them the wives whom they had saved alive out of the women of Yabesh-gil'ad; but they found not sufficient for them in this way.
So the men came back from Rimmon Rock. The Israelis gave to them the women from Jabesh-Gilead whom they had not killed. But there were [only 400 women. But there were] not enough women [for those 600 men].
15 And the people felt regret for Benjamin; because that the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
The Israelis [still] felt sorry for the men of the tribe of Benjamin, because Yahweh had (decimated/almost wiped out) one of the Israeli tribes.
16 And the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for those that remain as respecteth wives; because the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin?
The Israeli leaders said, “We have killed all the married women of the tribe of Benjamin. Where can we get women to be wives of the men who are still alive?
17 And they said, Their inheritance must be secured for Benjamin, that not a tribe may be blotted out from Israel.
These men must have wives to give birth to children, in order that their families will continue. If that does not happen, all the people of one of the tribes of Israel will die.
18 Nevertheless we ourselves are not able to give them wives of our daughters; for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.
But we cannot allow our daughters to marry these men, because we vowed that Yahweh will curse anyone who gives one of his daughters to become a wife of any man of the tribe of Benjamin.”
19 And they said, Behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh from year to year [at a place] which is on the north side of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
Then [one of] them (had an idea/thought of something that they could do). He said, “Every year there is a festival to honor Yahweh at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel and east of the road that extends from Bethel to Shechem, and it is south of Lebonah [city].”
20 And they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go ye and lie in wait in the vineyards;
So the Israeli leaders told the men of the tribe of Benjamin, “[When it is the time for that festival], go to Shiloh and hide in the vineyards.
21 And look out, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh go out to dance in dances: then come ye forth out of the vineyards, and snatch you every man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go then to the land of Benjamin.
Keep watching for the young women to come out of the city to dance. [When they come out], all of you should run out of the vineyards. Each of you can seize one of the young women of Shiloh. Then you can all return to your homes [with those women].
22 And it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to contend with us, that we will say unto them, Be favorable unto them for our sakes; because we took not for each man his wife in the war; [and] because ye yourselves did not give them unto them, that ye should at this time be guilty.
If their fathers or brothers come to us and complain [about what you have done], we will say to them, ‘Be kind to the men of the tribe of Benjamin. When we fought them, we did not leave any women alive to become their wives, and you did not give those young women to the men from the tribe of Benjamin. [They stole them]. So you will not be guilty, [even though you said that you would not allow any of your daughters to marry one of them].’”
23 And the children of Benjamin did so, and took themselves wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they had stolen away; and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and rebuilt the cities, and dwelt in them.
So that is what the men of the tribe of Benjamin did. [They went to Shiloh at the time of the festival]. And when the young women were dancing, each man caught one of them and took her away and married her. Then they took their wives back to the land that God had given to them. They rebuilt their cities [that had been burned down], and they lived there.
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.
The other Israelis went to their homes in the areas where their tribes and clans lived, the areas that God had allotted to them.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did what was right in his own eyes.
At that time, the Israeli people did not have a king. Everyone did what they themselves thought was right.
