Chapter 21
1 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah , saying, " None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife."
2 The people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before God , and lifted up their voices , and wept severely.
3 They said, " The LORD , the God of Israel , why has this happened in Israel , that there should be one tribe lacking in Israel today ?"
4 On the next day , the people rose early and built an altar there , and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings .
5 The children of Israel said, " Who is there amongst all the tribes of Israel who didn’t come up in the assembly to the LORD ?" For they had made a great oath concerning him who didn’t come up to the LORD to Mizpah , saying, " He shall surely be put to death ."
6 The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, " There is one tribe cut off from Israel today .
7 How shall we provide wives for those who remain , since we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?"
8 They said, " What one is there of the tribes of Israel who didn’t come up to the LORD to Mizpah ?" Behold , no one came from Jabesh Gilead to the camp to the assembly .
9 For when the people were counted , behold , there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there .
10 The congregation sent twelve thousand of the most valiant men there , and commanded them , saying , " Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword , with the women and the little ones .
11 This is the thing that you shall do : you shall utterly destroy every male , and every woman who has lain with a man ."
12 They found amongst the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known man by lying with him ; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh , which is in the land of Canaan .
13 The whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon , and proclaimed peace to them .
14 Benjamin returned at that time ; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead . There still weren’t enough for them .
15 The people grieved for Benjamin , because the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel .
16 Then the elders of the congregation said, " How shall we provide wives for those who remain , since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin ?"
17 They said, "There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Benjamin , that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel .
18 However , we may not give them wives of our daughters , for the children of Israel had sworn , saying, ‘Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin .’"
19 They said, " Behold , there is a feast of the LORD from year to year in Shiloh , which is on the north of Bethel , on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem , and on the south of Lebonah ."
20 They commanded the children of Benjamin , saying, " Go and lie in wait in the vineyards ,
21 and see , and behold , if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances , then come out of the vineyards , and each man catch his wife of the daughters of Shiloh , and go to the land of Benjamin .
22 It shall be , when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us , that we will say to them , ‘ Grant them graciously to us , because we didn’t take for each man his wife in battle , neither did you give them to them ; otherwise you would now be guilty.’"
23 The children of Benjamin did so , and took wives for themselves according to their number , of those who danced , whom they carried off . They went and returned to their inheritance , built the cities , and lived in them .
24 The children of Israel departed from there at that time , every man to his tribe and to his family , and they each went out from there to his own inheritance .
25 In those days there was no king in Israel . Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes .