Judges 21

1The men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, saying, “No man among us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.”

2Then the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and they raised their voices and wept with great weeping.

3And they said, “Why, O Yahweh, God of Israel, has this happened in Israel, that today one tribe should be lacking from Israel?”

4And the next day the people rose early, built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

5And the sons of Israel said, “Who is there from all the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Yahweh in the assembly?” For the great oath had been made concerning whoever did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.”

6And the sons of Israel grieved over Benjamin their brother, and they said, “Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel.”

7What shall we do for them—for those who remain—to get wives? For we have sworn by Yahweh not to give them any of our daughters as wives.

8And they said, “Which one of the tribes of Israel did not go up to Yahweh at Mizpah?” And behold, not a man from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp, to the assembly.

9And the people were mustered, and behold, there was not a man there from the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead.

10So the assembly sent there twelve thousand men from the sons of valor, and they commanded them, saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and the little ones.”

11And this is what you shall do: every male, and every woman who has known the bed of a male, you shall devote to destruction.

12And from the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead they found four hundred young women, virgins, who had not known a man by lying with a male; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

13Then the whole congregation sent word and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them.

14So Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had kept alive from the women of Jabesh-gilead; but they did not find enough for them that way.

15And the people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a breach among the tribes of Israel.

16Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?”

17And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe may not be blotted out from Israel.”

18But we cannot give them wives from our daughters, because the sons of Israel have sworn, saying, ‘Cursed is the one who gives a wife to Benjamin.’

19And they said, "Look, there is a feast of Yahweh in Shiloh from year to year, which is north of Bethel, east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah."

20And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards.”

21Watch, and behold, when the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out from the vineyards and seize for yourselves, each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

22And it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to contend with us, that we will say to them, ‘Show us favor concerning them, because we did not take for each man his wife in the battle; for you did not give them to them, at this time, so that you should incur guilt.’

23So the sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from the dancers whom they had seized. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, rebuilt the cities, and lived in them.

24Then the sons of Israel departed from there at that time, each man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from there, each man to his inheritance.

25In those days there was no king in Israel; each man did what was right in his own eyes.