1 Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, saying, None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.
2 And the people came to the house of God, and remained there before God till evening, and lifted up their voices and wept with great weeping,
3 and said, O Jehovah the God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that today there should be one tribe missing in Israel?
4 And it came to pass the next morning, that the people arose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
5 And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up with the assembly to Jehovah? For they had made a great oath concerning anyone who did not come up to Jehovah at Mizpah, saying, He shall die the death.
6 And the children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, One tribe is cut off from Israel today.
7 What shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by Jehovah not to give them our daughters as wives?
8 And they said, What one is there from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Mizpah to Jehovah? And, behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.
9 For when the people were numbered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead was there.
10 And the congregation sent out there twelve thousand of their most valiant men, and commanded them, saying, Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and children.
11 And this is the thing that you shall do: You shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has known a man by lying with him.
12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13 And the whole congregation sent word to the sons of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them.
14 And Benjamin came back at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead; and yet they had not found enough for them.
15 And the people grieved for Benjamin, because Jehovah had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
16 And the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?
17 And they said, There must be an inheritance for the remnant of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be destroyed from Israel.
18 However, we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.
19 Then they said, Behold, there is a yearly feast of Jehovah in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.
20 Therefore they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, Go, lie in wait in the vineyards,
21 and watch; and when the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance their dances, then come out from the vineyards, and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh; and go to the land of Benjamin.
22 And it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, that we will say to them, Be gracious to them for our sakes, because we did not take a wife for any of them in the war; for it is not as though you have given the women to them at this time, thus making yourselves guilty of your oath.
23 And the sons of Benjamin did so; they took enough wives for their number from those who danced, whom they caught. And they went and returned to their inheritance, and they rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them.
24 So the sons of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family; they departed from there, every man to his inheritance.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes.