21Judges 21

1Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin to wife.Select Judges 21:1

2And the people came to the house of God, and stayed there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore;Select Judges 21:2

3And 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?Select Judges 21:3

4And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.Select Judges 21:4

5And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation to 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.Select Judges 21:5

6And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.Select Judges 21:6

7How 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? ¶Select Judges 21:7

8And 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.Select Judges 21:8

9For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there.Select Judges 21:9

10And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the most valiant, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.Select Judges 21:10

11And this is the thing that you shall do, You shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that has lain by man.Select Judges 21:11

12And 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.Select Judges 21:12

13And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably to them.Select Judges 21:13

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.Select Judges 21:14

15And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. ¶Select Judges 21:15

16Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?Select Judges 21:16

17And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.Select Judges 21:17

18However, 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.Select Judges 21:18

19Then 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 Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.Select Judges 21:19

20Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;Select Judges 21:20

21And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come you out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.Select Judges 21:21

22And it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, that we will say to them, Be favorable to them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for you did not give to them at this time, that you should be guilty.Select Judges 21:22

23And 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 dwelled in them.Select Judges 21:23

24And 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.Select Judges 21:24

25In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.Select Judges 21:25