Judges 21
1 And the men of Israel have sworn in Mizpeh, saying, 'None of us doth give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.'
The men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, “None of us will allow our daughters to marry a Benjamite.”
2 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,
The Israelites went to Bethel and sat there before God until the evening, crying loudly in distress.
3 and say, 'Why, O Jehovah, God of Israel, hath this been in Israel — to be lacking to-day, from Israel, one tribe?'
“Lord, God of Israel, why has this happened to Israel?” they asked. “Today one of our tribes is missing from Israel.”
4 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.
The next day they got up early, built an altar, and brought burnt offerings and friendship offerings.
5 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.'
“Which of all the tribes of Israel didn't attend the assembly we held before the Lord?” they asked. For they had sworn a sacred oath that anyone who did not come before the Lord at Mizpah would without exception be executed.
6 And the sons of Israel repent concerning Benjamin their brother, and say, 'There hath been to-day cut off one tribe from Israel,
The Israelites felt sorry for their brother Benjamin, saying, “Today one tribe has been hacked off from Israel!
7 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?'
What shall we do about wives for those who are left, since we have sworn an oath before the Lord that we will not allow any of our daughters to marry them?”
8 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.
Then they asked, “Which one of all the tribes of Israel didn't attend the assembly we held before the Lord at Mizpah?” They found out that no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp for the assembly,
9 And the people numbered themselves, and lo, there is not there a man of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead.
for once they had done a head count, there was nobody there from Jabesh-gilead.
10 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.
So the assembly sent twelve thousand of their best warriors there. They gave them orders, saying, “Go and kill the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with your swords, even the women and children.
11 And this [is] the thing which ye do; every male, and every woman knowing the lying of a male, ye devote.'
This is what you have to do: Destroy every male and every woman who has had sex with a man.”
12 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.
They managed to find among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred virgins who had not had sex with a man. They took them to the camp in Shiloh, in the land of Canaan.
13 And all the company send, and speak, unto the sons of Benjamin who [are] in the rock Rimmon, and proclaim to them peace;
Then the whole assembly sent a message to the Benjamites at Pomegranate Rock to tell them, “Peace!”
14 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.
So the men of Benjamin went back home, and gave to them the four hundred women from Jabesh-gilead who had been spared as wives. However, there wasn't enough for all of them.
15 And the people repented concerning Benjamin, for Jehovah had made a breach among the tribes of Israel.
The people felt sorry for the Benjamites because the Lord had made this empty hole among the Israelite tribes.
16 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?'
The elders of the assembly asked, “What shall we do to supply the remaining wives because all the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?”
17 And they say, 'A possession of an escaped party [is] to Benjamin, and a tribe is not blotted out from Israel;
They added, “There have to be heirs for the Benjamite survivors—an Israelite tribe of Israel can't be wiped out.
18 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.'
But we can't let them have our daughters as wives, since we as the people of Israel swore a sacred oath, saying, ‘Anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite is cursed!’”
19 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.'
Then they said, “Look! Every year there's the Lord's festival in Shiloh. It's held north of Bethel, and east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, south of Lebonah.”
20 And they command the sons of Benjamin, saying, 'Go — and ye have laid wait in the vineyards,
So they ordered the Benjamites, “Go and hide in the vineyards.
21 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;
Keep a lookout, and when you see the young women from Shiloh come out to perform their dances, run out from the vineyards, and each of you abduct a wife for yourself and go back home to the land of Benjamin.
22 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.'
If their fathers or brothers come complaining to us, we'll tell them, ‘Please do us a favor, because we couldn't find enough wives for them in the war. And it's not as if you're guilty of breaking the oath since you didn't give them in marriage.”
23 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.
The Benjaminites did as they were ordered. Each man grabbed one of the women dancers up to the total needed and carried her off to be his wife. Then they went back to their own land, where they rebuilt their towns and lived in them.
24 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.
Then the Israelites left and went home to their tribes and families, each one going to the land they owned.
25 In those days there is no king in Israel; each doth that which is right in his own eyes.
At that time Israel didn't have a king—everyone did what they themselves thought was the right thing to do.
