Judges 21 · שופטים

Now the men of Yisra᾽el had sworn in Miżpe, saying, None of us shall give his daughter to Binyamin to wife.

And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept very bitterly;

and said, O Lord God of Yisra᾽el, why is this come to pass in Yisra᾽el that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Yisra᾽el?

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

And the children of Yisra᾽el said, Who is there among all the tribes of Yisra᾽el 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 Miżpe, saying, He shall surely be put to death.

And the children of Yisra᾽el relented on account of Binyamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Yisra᾽el this day.

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?

And they said, Which one is there of the tribes of Yisra᾽el that came not up to Miżpe to the Lord? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Yavesh-gil῾ad to the assembly.

For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Yavesh-gil῾ad there.

And the congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Yavesh-gil῾ad with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.

And this is the thing that you shall do, you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that has lain with a man.

And they found among the inhabitants of Yavesh-gil῾ad four hundred young virgins, that had known no man carnally: and they brought them to the camp to Shilo, which is in the land of Kena῾an.

And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Binyamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably to them.

And Binyamin returned at that time; and they gave them the wives whom they had saved alive of the women of Yavesh-gil῾ad: and yet they sufficed them not.

And the people felt regret for Binyamin, because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Yisra᾽el.

Then the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Binyamin?

And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that are escaped of Binyamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Yisra᾽el.

Yet we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Yisra᾽el have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that gives a wife to Binyamin.

Then they said, Behold, there is a yearly feast of the Lord in Shilo which is on the north side of Bet-el, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bet-el to Shekhem, and on the south of Levona.

Therefore they commanded the children of Binyamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;

and see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shilo come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shilo, and go to the land of Binyamin.

And it shall be, if their fathers or their brethren come to us to complain, that we will say to them, Be favourable to them, for our sakes: because we took not a wife for every man in the war: nor did you give them to them willingly at this time, that you should be guilty.

And the children of Binyamin 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 rebuilt the cities, and dwelt in them.

And the children of Yisra᾽el departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.

In those days there was no king in Yisra᾽el: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.