King James Version

1 And a man of Israel swore at Mizpah, saying, "No one among us shall give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife." 2 And the people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before God, and they raised their voices and wept with a loud weeping. 3 And they said, "Why has the LORD God of Israel done this to Israel, to be judged today with one tribe of Israel?" 4 And it was the next day, and the people rose early and built there an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5 And the children of Israel said, "Whoever does not go up to the assembly from all the tribes of Israel to the Lord, because the great oath was upon whoever does not go up to the Lord at Mizpah, let him surely die." 6 And the sons of Israel contended with Benjamin their brother, and they said, "We will cut off today one tribe from Israel." 7 What shall we do for the remaining ones for women, and we have sworn by the Lord not to give them any of our daughters for wives? 8 And they said, "Who is one of the tribes of Israel that did not go up to the Lord at Mizpah?" And behold, no man came to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly. 9 And the people were counted, and behold, there was no man of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead. 10 And they sent there the congregation twelve thousand men of the warriors, and they commanded them, saying, "Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, and the women and the children." 11 And this is the thing that you shall do: every male and every female who knows a male’s bed you shall put to death. 12 And the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead found four hundred young women who were virgins and had not known a man for lying with a male, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 13 And all the congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and they called to them peace. 14 And Benjamin stayed at that time, and they gave to them the women who had survived from the women of Jabesh Gilead, but they did not find for them enough. 15 And the people repented for Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach among the tribes of Israel. 16 And the elders of the congregation said, "What shall we do for the survivors for the women, since we have sworn an oath to Benjamin?" 17 And they said, "The remnant shall inherit for Benjamin, and the tribe shall not be wiped out from Israel." 18 And we cannot give them our daughters, for the sons of Israel have sworn, saying, "Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin." 19 And they said, "Behold, the feast of the Lord in Shiloh, from days long ago, which is to the north of Bethel, east of the sun, along the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem and from the south to Lebanon." 20 And he commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards." 21 And you shall see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then you shall come out of the vineyards and catch for yourselves each man a 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 contend with us, that we will say to them, "We have been given them [for refuge] because we did not take any man’s wife in battle; for it is not you who allowed them to be [in this situation]." 23 And the sons of Benjamin did so, and they took wives for themselves from the number of the dancers whom they had seized, and they went and returned to their inheritance and built the cities and dwelled in them. 24 And the children of Israel walked 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. 25 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.