Judges 21

21 ¹ Israel's men had sworn at Mizpah: 'None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.' ² The people came to Bethel and sat there before our Father until evening, crying out and weeping bitterly. ³ They said, "Why, our Father, God of Israel, has this happened in Israel—one tribe missing from Israel today?"

⁴ The people rose early next day, built an altar there, and offered burnt and peace offerings. ⁵ Then Israel's people asked, "Which of all Israel's tribes did not come up to the assembly, to our Father?" For they had sworn a solemn oath that whoever did not come up to our Father at Mizpah must surely be put to death. ⁶ The Israelites grieved for their brother Benjamin: "Today one tribe is cut off from Israel." ⁷ How can we get wives for the survivors, since we swore by our Father not to give them our daughters? ⁸ Then they asked, "Which of Israel's tribes did not come up to our Father at Mizpah?" No one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp, to the assembly. ⁹ For when the people were counted, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there. ¹⁰ The assembly sent twelve thousand of their bravest fighters there, ordering: 'Go strike the residents of Jabesh-gilead with the sword, including women and children.' ¹¹ Do this: devote to destruction every male, and every woman who has had relations with a man. ¹² Among Jabesh-gilead's residents they found four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man, and brought them to the camp at Shiloh, in the land of Canaan.

¹³ Then the whole community sent word to the Benjaminites at the rock of Rimmon and declared peace to them. ¹⁴ Benjamin returned at that time; they gave them the women kept alive from Jabesh-gilead — still not enough for them all. ¹⁵ The people grieved for Benjamin, because our Father had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. ¹⁶ The elders of the assembly said, "How do we get wives for the survivors, since Benjamin's women were wiped out?" ¹⁷ They said, "Benjamin's survivors need an inheritance, so a tribe isn't erased from Israel." ¹⁸ We cannot give them our daughters as wives, for Israel had sworn, 'Cursed is anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin.' ¹⁹ They said, "There's a yearly feast of our Father at Shiloh, north of Bethel, east of the road up from Bethel to Shechem, south of Lebonah." ²⁰ And they instructed the Benjaminites, "Go and hide in the vineyards, ²¹ Watch — when Shiloh's young women come out to dance, rush from the vineyards, each seize a wife from Shiloh's young women, and go to Benjamin's land. ²² When their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we'll tell them, 'Show them favor for our sake, since we didn't capture a wife for each in battle, and you didn't give them wives yourselves — else you'd be guilty now.'

²³ So Benjamin's sons did this: they took wives, one for each, from the dancers they seized, went back to their inheritance, rebuilt the cities, and lived there. ²⁴ At that time the Israelites left there, each to his tribe and clan; each went out from there to his inheritance. ²⁵ In those days Israel had no king; each did what seemed right in his own eyes.