Judges:21

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah , saying , Not any of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as wife . * And the people came to Beth-el , and sat there until evening before God , and lifted up their voices , and wept intensely . * And they said , O Yahweh , the God of Israel , why has this come to pass in Israel , that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel ? * And it came to pass on the next day , that the people rose early , and built there an altar , and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings . * And the sons of Israel said , Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that didn 't come up in the assembly to Yahweh ? For they had made a great oath concerning him who did not come up to Yahweh to Mizpah , saying , He will surely be put to death . * And the sons of Israel repented for Benjamin their brother , and said , There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day . * What shall we do for wives for those who remain , seeing we have sworn by Yahweh that we will not give them our daughters as wives ? * And they said , What one is there of the tribes of Israel that didn 't come up to Yahweh to Mizpah ? And , look , none came to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly . * For when the people were numbered , look , there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there . * And the congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the valiant , 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 . * And this is the thing that you (note :){+}(:note ) will do : you {+} will completely destroy every male , and every woman that has had any sex with a man . * And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins , that had not had any sex with a man ; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh , which is in the land of Canaan . * And the whole congregation sent and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon , and proclaimed peace to them . * And Benjamin returned at that time ; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead : and yet they did not suffice them . * And the people repented for Benjamin , because Yahweh had made a breach in the tribes of Israel . * Then the elders of the congregation said , What shall we do for wives for those who remain , seeing the women were destroyed out of Benjamin ? * And they said , There must be an inheritance for the escaped of Benjamin , that a tribe will not be blotted out from Israel . * Nevertheless we may not give them wives of our daughters , for the sons of Israel had sworn , saying , Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin . * And they said , Look , there is a feast of Yahweh from year to year in Shiloh , which is on the north of Beth-el , on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beth-el to Shechem , and on the south of Lebonah . * And they commanded the sons of Benjamin , saying , Go and lie in wait in the vineyards , * and see , and watch if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances , then come (note :){+}(:note ) out of the vineyards , and you {+} catch every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh , and go to the land of Benjamin . * And it will 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 did not take for each man [of them ] his wife in battle , neither did you (note :){+}(:note ) give them to them , or else you {+} would now be guilty . * And the sons of Benjamin did so , and took wives , according to their number , of those who danced , whom they carried off : and they went and returned to their inheritance , and built the cities , and dwelt in them . * And the sons of Israel departed from there at that time , every man to his tribe and to his family , and they went out from there every man to his inheritance . * In those days there was no king in Israel : every man did that which was right in his own eyes .

---