Judges 21
1 Now the men of Israel had made a promise at Mizpah, “None of us will give his daughter to marry a Benjamite.”
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 Then the people went to Bethel and sat there before God until the evening, and with loud voices they wept bitterly.
But now the Israelis went to Bethel and they cried loudly to Yahweh all day, until the sun went down.
3 They called out, “Why, Yahweh, God of Israel, has this happened to Israel, that one of our tribes should be missing today?”
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 The next day the people got up early and built an altar there 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 The people of Israel said, “Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to Yahweh?” For they had made an important promise concerning anyone who did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah. They said, “He would certainly 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 The people of Israel had compassion for their brother Benjamin. They said, “Today one tribe has been cut off 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 Who will provide wives for those who are left, since we have made a promise to Yahweh that we will not let any of them marry our daughters?”
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 They said, “Which of the tribes of Israel did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah?” It was found that no one had come to the assembly from Jabesh Gilead.
Then [one of] them asked, “What group from any of the tribes of Israel did not send any men here to Mizpah?”
9 For when the people were set out in an orderly manner, behold, none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead were there.
[They realized that] when the soldiers were counted, there was no one from Jabesh-Gilead [city] who had come there.
10 The assembly sent twelve thousand of their bravest men with instructions to go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and 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 “Do this: You must kill every male and every woman who has slept with a man.”
[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 The men found among those living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh, in 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 The entire assembly sent a message and told the people of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon that they were offering 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 The Benjamites returned at that time and they were given the women of Jabesh Gilead, but there were not enough women for all of them.
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 The people were sorry for what happened to Benjamin, because Yahweh made a division between 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 Then the leaders of the assembly said, “How will we arrange wives for the Benjamites who are left, since the women of Benjamin have been killed?”
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 They said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe is not destroyed 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 We cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the people of Israel had made a promise, 'Cursed be anyone who gives 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 So they said, “You know there is a feast for Yahweh every year at Shiloh (which is north of Bethel, east of the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and 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 They instructed the men of Benjamin, saying, “Go and hide in secret and 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 Watch for the time when the girls from Shiloh come out to dance, then rush out of the vineyards and each one of you should grab a wife from the girls of Shiloh, then go back 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 When their fathers or their brothers come to protest to us, we will say to them, 'Show us favor! Let them remain because we did not get wives for each man during the war. You are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.'”
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 The people of Benjamin did so. They took the number of wives that they needed from the girls who were dancing and they carried them off to be their wives. They went and returned to the place of their inheritance. They rebuilt the towns and lived 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 Then the people of Israel left that place and went home, each one to his own tribe and clan, and each one to his own 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. Everyone 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.
