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men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah: “None of us will give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.”
2 So the people went to Bethel and sat there until the evening before God. They raised their voices and wept bitterly, 3 and they said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel? Why should there be one tribe now lacking in Israel this day?”
4 The people got up early the next day, and they built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.
5 Then the Israelites asked, “Who among all the tribes of Israel has failed to come up to the assembly before the Lord?” For they had taken a solemn oath about anyone who did not come to the Lord at Mizpah: “He must certainly be put to death.”
6 But the Israelites grieved for their brothers, the Benjaminites. They said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel this day. 7 What should we do to provide wives for those who remain? We have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them any of our daughters as wives.”
8 Then they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel has not come up to the Lord at Mizpah?” And it was discovered that no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp of the assembly. 9 For when the people were counted, none of the people from Jabesh-gilead were there.
10 So the congregation sent twelve thousand of their most valiant warriors there and commanded them: “Go and strike the people of Jabesh-gilead with the sword, including women and children. 11 This is what you are to do: You must completely destroy every male, and every woman who has lain with a man.” 12 They found among the people of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had not had sexual relations with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
13 Then the whole congregation sent a message of peace to the Benjaminites who were at the rock of Rimmon. 14 So the Benjaminites returned at that time, and they were given the girls whom they had spared from the women of Jabesh-gilead. But there were not enough for all of them.
15 The people grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel.
16 So the elders of the congregations asked, “What will we do for those who are left, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” 17 “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin,” they said, “so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. 18 But we cannot give them any of our daughters as wives.” For the Israelites had sworn an oath: “Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin!” 19 So they said, “However, there is a annual festival to the Lord in Shiloah, which is north of Bethel, east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”
20 So they commanded the Benjaminites: “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, 21 and watch. When you see the daughters of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush out of the vineyards, and every man catch for himself a wife from the girls of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22 When their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we will say to them, ‘Show them favour for our sake, since we did not capture wives for any of them in the battle. But you didn’t actually give any of your daughters to them at this time, so you haven’t incurred any guilt’.”
23 So that was what the Benjaminites did. When the young women were dancing, they captured the number of women they needed and carried them off. Then they returned to their inheritance, and they rebuilt their cities and settled in them.
24 At that time, the Israelites departed from there, and each man returned to his own tribe and family, each to his own inheritance.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.