Judges Chapter 21

Benjamin’s future lamented

21:1 NOW the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.
21:2 And the people came to the house of God, and abode theretill even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore;
21:3 And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel ?
21:4 And it came to pass the next day, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
21:5 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.
21:6 And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.

Wives provided for the remnant

21:7 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 ?
21:8 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 to the assembly.
21:9 For the people were numbered, and, behold, [there were] none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there.
21:10 And the congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.
21:11 And this [is] the thing that ya’ll shall do, ya’ll shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that has lain by man.
21:12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which [is] in the land of Canaan.
21:13 And the whole congregation sent [some] to speak to the children of Benjamin that [were] in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably to them.
21:14And Benjamin came again at that time ; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead and yet so they sufficed them not.
21:15 And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
21:16 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 ?
21:17 And they said, [There must be] an inheritance for them tha tbe escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.
21:18 However we may not give them wives of our daughters for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed [be] he that gives a wife to Benjamin.
21:19 Then they said, Behold, [there is] a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly [in a place] which [is] on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethelto Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
21:20 Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying,Go and lie in wait in the vineyards ;
21:21 And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come ou tto dance in dances, then come ya’ll out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
21:22 And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say to them, Be favorable unto them for our sake because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war for ya’ll did not give to them at this time,[that] ya’ll should be guilty.
21:23 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 to their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.
21:24 And the children of Israel departed there at that time,every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.
21:25 In those days [there was] no king in Israel every man did[that which was] right in his own eyes.