1 The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: "Not one of us will give his daughter as a wife to Benjamin."
2 The people came to Bethel and sat there before God till evening; they raised their voices and wept loud and long.
3 They said, "LORD, God of Israel, why has this come about in Israel, that today one tribe should be lacking from Israel?"
4 Early the next day the people built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
5 The children of Israel said, "Who from all the tribes of Israel did not come up to the LORD with the assembly?" For a great oath had been taken about anyone who did not come up to the LORD at Mizpah: "He must be put to death."
6 The children of Israel felt sorry for their brother Benjamin, and they said, "Today one tribe has been lopped off from Israel.
7 How shall we provide wives for those left over, now that we have sworn by the LORD not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?"
8 They said, "Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to come up to the LORD at Mizpah?" And they found that no one had come from Jabesh-gilead to the camp, to the assembly.
9 When the troops were counted, there was not a man there from those living in Jabesh-gilead.
10 So the congregation sent twelve thousand of its valiant men there with these orders: "Go and put those living in Jabesh-gilead to the sword, with the women and the little ones.
11 Here is what you are to do: every male, and every woman who has had relations with a male, you are to devote to destruction."
12 Among those living in Jabesh-gilead they found four hundred young women who were virgins, who had not known a man by lying with a male, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, in the land of Canaan.
13 The whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin at the rock of Rimmon and offered them peace.
14 At that time Benjamin came back, and they gave them the women they had spared from the women of Jabesh-gilead; but there were not enough for them.
15 The people felt sorry for Benjamin, since the LORD had torn a gap in the tribes of Israel.
16 The elders of the congregation said, "How shall we provide wives for those left over, since the women of Benjamin have been wiped out?"
17 They said, "The survivors of Benjamin must keep their inheritance, so that a tribe is not blotted out of Israel.
18 But we cannot give them wives from among our daughters, because the children of Israel have sworn, 'A curse on whoever gives a wife to Benjamin!'"
19 So they said, "There is the LORD's feast held every year in Shiloh, north of Bethel, east of the road going up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah."
20 They instructed the children of Benjamin, "Go, hide in ambush in the vineyards
21 and keep watch. When you see the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, come out of the vineyards and each of you snatch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh, and go off to the land of Benjamin.
22 When their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we will tell them, 'Grant them to us as a favor, for we did not take a wife for every man in the war, and you did not give them to them yourselves, or you would now be guilty.'"
23 The children of Benjamin did this. They carried off wives to match their number from the dancers they had seized, then went back to their inheritance, rebuilt the cities and settled in them.
24 At that time the children of Israel left there, each man for his tribe and his clan; from there each went out to his own inheritance.
25 At that time Israel had no king; each man did what seemed right in his own eyes.