Judges:21

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* Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh , saying , There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife . * And the people came to the house of God # Beyth -#El #, and abode there till even before God , and lifted up their voices , and wept sore ; * And said , O LORD God of Israel Yisra #el #, why is this come to pass in Israel Yisra #el #, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel Yisra #el #? * 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 . * 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 . * And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother , and said , There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day . * 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 ? * 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 Yabesh # to the assembly . * For the people were numbered , and , behold , there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead Yabesh # there . * And the congregation sent thither twelve sh @nayim # thousand men of the valiantest ben #, and commanded them , saying , Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead Yabesh # with the edge of the sword , with the women and the children . * And this is the thing that ye shall do , Ye shall utterly destroy every male , and every woman that hath lain by man . * And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead Yabesh # four hundred yung 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 K @na #an #. * 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 . * And Benjamin came again at that time ; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead Yabesh # Gil #ad #: and yet so they sufficed them not . * And the people repented them for Benjamin , because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel Yisra #el #. * 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 ? * And they said , There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin , that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel Yisra #el #. * 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 . * Then they said , Behold , there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly yowm # in a place which is on the north side of Bethel Beyth -#El #, on the east side mizrach # of the highway that goeth up from Bethel Beyth -#El # to Shechem , and on the south of Lebonah . * Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin , saying , Go and lie in wait in the vineyards ; * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * In those days there was no king in Israel Yisra #el #: every man did that which was right in his own eyes .

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