21Judges 21

1And the men of Israel have sworn in Mizpeh, saying, `None of us doth give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.'Select Judges 21:1

2And the people come in to Beth-El, and sit there till the evening before God, and lift up their voice, and weep--a great weeping,Select Judges 21:2

3and say, `Why, O Jehovah, God of Israel, hath this been in Israel--to be lacking to-day, from Israel, one tribe?'Select Judges 21:3

4And it cometh to pass on the morrow, that the people rise early, and build there an altar, and cause to ascend burnt-offerings and peace-offerings.Select Judges 21:4

5And the sons of Israel say, `Who is he that hath not come up in the assembly out of all the tribes of Israel unto Jehovah?' for the great oath hath been concerning him who hath not come up unto Jehovah to Mizpeh, saying, `He is surely put to death.'Select Judges 21:5

6And the sons of Israel repent concerning Benjamin their brother, and say, `There hath been to-day cut off one tribe from Israel,Select Judges 21:6

7what do we do for them--for those who are left--for wives, and we--we have sworn by Jehovah not to give to them of our daughters for wives?'Select Judges 21:7

8And they say, `Who is that one out of the tribes of Israel who hath not come up unto Jehovah to Mizpeh?' and lo, none hath come in unto the camp from Jabesh-Gilead--unto the assembly.Select Judges 21:8

9And the people numbered themselves, and lo, there is not there a man of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead.Select Judges 21:9

10And the company send there twelve thousand men of the sons of valour, and command them, saying, `Go--and ye have smitten the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead by the mouth of the sword, even the women and the infants.Select Judges 21:10

11And this is the thing which ye do; every male, and every woman knowing the lying of a male, ye devote.'Select Judges 21:11

12And they find out of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead four hundred young women, virgins, who have not known man by the lying of a male, and they bring them in unto the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.Select Judges 21:12

13And all the company send, and speak, unto the sons of Benjamin who are in the rock Rimmon, and proclaim to them peace;Select Judges 21:13

14and Benjamin turneth back at that time, and they give to them the women whom they have kept alive of the women of Jabesh-Gilead, and they have not found for all of them so.Select Judges 21:14

15And the people repented concerning Benjamin, for Jehovah had made a breach among the tribes of Israel.Select Judges 21:15

16And the elders of the company say, `What do we do to the remnant for wives--for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin?'Select Judges 21:16

17And they say, `A possession of an escaped party is to Benjamin, and a tribe is not blotted out from Israel;Select Judges 21:17

18and we--we are not able to give to them wives out of our daughters, for the sons of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed is he who is giving a wife to Benjamin.'Select Judges 21:18

19And they say, `Lo, a festival of Jehovah is in Shiloh, from time to time, which is on the north of Beth-El, at the rising of the sun, by the highway which is going up from Beth-El to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.'Select Judges 21:19

20And they command the sons of Benjamin, saying, `Go--and ye have laid wait in the vineyards,Select Judges 21:20

21and have seen, and lo, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances--then ye have gone out from the vineyards, and caught for you each his wife out of the daughters of Shiloh, and gone to the land of Benjamin;Select Judges 21:21

22and it hath been, when their fathers or their brethren come in to plead unto us, that we have said unto them, Favour us by them, for we have not taken to each his wife in battle, for ye--ye have not given to them at this time that ye are guilty.'Select Judges 21:22

23And the sons of Benjamin do so, and take women according to their number, out of the dancers whom they have taken violently away; and they go, and turn back unto their inheritance, and build the cities, and dwell in them.Select Judges 21:23

24And the sons of Israel go up and down thence at that time, each to his tribe, and to his family; and they go out thence each to his inheritance.Select Judges 21:24

25In those days there is no king in Israel; each doth that which is right in his own eyes.Select Judges 21:25