1. And the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, Not one of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.
2. And the people came to Bethel, and sat there before God until the evening. And they lifted up their voices and wept a great weeping.
3. And they said, O Jehovah, God of Israel, Why has this happened in Israel, to be lacking one tribe today from Israel?
4. And it happened on the next day, the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
5. And the sons of Israel said, Who is he that did not come up in the assembly out of all the tribes of Israel to Jehovah? For a great oath had been undertaken concerning him that did not come up to Jehovah to Mizpeh saying, Dying he shall die.
6. And the sons of Israel repented concerning their brother Benjamin. And they said, One tribe from Israel has been cut off today.
7. What shall we do for them, for those who are left, for wives? For we surely have sworn by Jehovah not to give them of our daughters for wives.
8. And they said, What one out of the tribes of Israel did not come up to Jehovah to Mizpeh? And, behold, no one had come into the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.
9. And the people numbered themselves. And, behold, there was not a man of those living in Jabesh-gilead.
10. And the assembly sent twelve thousand men there of the mighty sons, and commanded them, saying, Go, and you shall strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the mouth of the sword, even the women and the little ones.
11. And this is the thing which you shall do. You shall destroy every male and every woman who has been known by lying with a male.
12. And out of all 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 into the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13. And all the assembly sent and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and called out peace to them.
14. And Benjamin came again at that time. And they gave the women whom they had kept alive, of the women of Jabesh-gilead. But they did not find enough for them.
15. And the people repented as to Benjamin, for Jehovah had made a breach among the tribes of Israel.
16. And the elders of the assembly said, What shall we do to the remnant for wives for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin?
17. And they said, The one who escaped shall be a legacy of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be blotted out from Israel.
18. And we surely are not able to give wives to them from our daughters, for the sons of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.
19. And they said, Behold, there is a feast of Jehovah from year to year in Shiloh, on the north side of Bethel, toward the rising of the sun, by the highway which goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
20. They commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, Go, and you shall lie in wait in the vineyards.
21. And you shall watch. And, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then you shall go out from the vineyards and each of you catch his wife 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 strive with us, we shall say to them, Favor us with them, for we did not take for each man of them a wife in battle, for if you did not give to them as at this time, you would be guilty.
23. And the sons of Benjamin did so, and took women according to their number from the dancers whom they had seized. And they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and lived in them.
24. And the sons of Israel went up and down from there at that time, each to his tribe, and to his family. And they departed from there, every man to his inheritance.
25. In those days there was no king in Israel. Each man did that which was right in his own eyes.