Judges 21
1 Now the
men of
Israel had
sworn in
Mizpeh, saying, There shall not
any of us
give his
daughter unto
Benjamin to
wife. 2 And the
people came to the
house of
God , and
abode there till
even before God, and lifted
up their
voices, and
wept sore; 3 And
said, O
LORD God of
Israel, why is this come to pass in
Israel, that there should be to
day one tribe lacking in
Israel? 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. 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 they had made a
great oath concerning him that came not
up to the
LORD to
Mizpeh, saying, He shall
surely be put to
death.
6 And the
children of
Israel repented them for
Benjamin their
brother, and
said, There is
one tribe cut
off from
Israel this
day. 7 How shall we
do for
wives for them that
remain, seeing we have
sworn by the
LORD that we will not
give them of our
daughters to
wives? 8 And they
said, What
one is there of the
tribes of
Israel that came not
up to
Mizpeh to the
LORD? And, behold, there
came none to the
camp from
Jabeshgilead to the
assembly. 9 For the
people were
numbered, and, behold, there were
none of the
inhabitants of
Jabeshgilead there. 10 And the
congregation sent thither
twelve thousand men of the
valiantest, and
commanded them,
saying,
Go and
smite the
inhabitants of
Jabeshgilead with the
edge of the
sword, with the
women and the
children. 11 And this is the
thing that ye shall
do, Ye shall utterly
destroy every
male, and every
woman that hath
lain by
man.
12 And they
found among the
inhabitants of
Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that had
known no
man by
lying with any
male: and they
brought them unto the
camp to
Shiloh, which is in the
land of
Canaan. 13 And the whole
congregation sent some to
speak to the
children of
Benjamin that were in the
rock Rimmon, and to
call peaceably unto them.
14 And
Benjamin came
again at that
time; and they
gave them
wives which they had saved
alive of the
women of
Jabeshgilead : and yet so they
sufficed them not.
15 And the
people repented them for
Benjamin, because that the
LORD had
made a
breach in the
tribes of
Israel. 16 Then the
elders of the
congregation said, How shall we
do for
wives for them that
remain, seeing the
women are
destroyed out of
Benjamin? 17 And they
said, There must be an
inheritance for them that be
escaped of
Benjamin, that a
tribe be not
destroyed out of
Israel. 18 Howbeit we
may not
give them
wives of our
daughters: for the
children of
Israel have
sworn,
saying,
Cursed be he that
giveth a
wife to
Benjamin. 19 Then they
said, Behold, there is a
feast of the
LORD in
Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north
side of
Bethel, on the east
side of the
highway that goeth
up from
Bethel to
Shechem, and on the
south of
Lebonah. 20 Therefore 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
dances, then come ye
out of the
vineyards, and
catch you every
man his
wife of the
daughters of
Shiloh, and
go to the
land of
Benjamin. 22 And it shall be, when their
fathers or their
brethren come unto us to
complain, that we will
say unto them, Be
favourable unto them for our sakes: because we
reserved not to each
man his
wife in the
war: for ye did not
give unto them at this
time, that ye should be
guilty.
23 And the
children of
Benjamin did
so, and
took them
wives, according to their
number, of them that
danced, whom they
caught: and they
went and
returned unto their
inheritance, and
repaired the
cities, and
dwelt in them.
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 thence every
man to his
inheritance. 25 In those
days there was no
king in
Israel: every
man did that which was
right in his own
eyes.