The Israelis Mourn the Tribe of Benjamin

1Now the people of Israel had taken a vow in Mizpah that went like this: “Not even one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a descendant of Benjamin!” 2So the people went to Bethel, sat before God until dusk, where they cried out loud and wept bitterly. 3“Why, LORD God of Israel,” they asked him, “is one tribe missinga from Israel?”

4The next day, the people got up early, built an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5The Israelis asked themselves, “Who didn’t come up in our assembly in the LORD’s presence from among all of the tribes of Israel?” They had taken a solemn oath concerning those who didn’t come up to meet with the LORD at Mizpah that “They will certainly be executed.”

6But the Israelis were mourning for their relatives in the tribe of Benjamin. They announced, “One tribe has been eliminated from Israel today! 7What can we do to find wives for the survivors who remain, since we’ve already taken an oath in the LORD’s presence not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?”

The Israelis Attempt to Mitigate Their Disaster

8They asked, “What one group of the tribes of Israel didn’t come up to meet the LORD at Mizpah?” It turned out that no one had come to the encampment from Jabesh-gilead, 9since when they took a census of the assembly, not even one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was in attendance. 10So the congregation sent out 12,000 of their valiant soldiers, issuing these orders to them: “Go and attack the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with swords, including the women and little ones. 11You’re to completely destroy every man and every married woman.”b

12They discovered among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young virgins who hadn’t had sex with a man, and they brought them to the encampment at Shiloh in the territory of Canaan. 13Then the entire congregation sent for the survivingc descendants of Benjamin who were living at the rock of Rimmon and assured them that their intentions toward them were peaceful.d 14So the survivors of the tribe of Benjamine returned at that time, and the Israelisf gave them the women whom they had kept alive from the raid ong Jabesh-gilead. Even so, there weren’t enough for them.

15The people felt sorry for the tribe of Benjamin because the LORD had broken one of the tribes of Israel. 16So the elders of the congregation asked, “What will we do to obtain wives for the survivors, since the women of Benjamin have been devastated?” 17They continued, “Let’s make sure that there’s an inheritance for the survivors of the tribe of Benjamin, so that a tribe won’t be blotted out from Israel. 18But we can’t give them wives from our own daughters, since we’veh taken this vow: ‘May the LORD cursei anyone who gives his daughter asj a wife to the tribe of Benjamin!’”

19So they concluded, “Look, there’s a festival to the LORD every year in Shiloh on the north side of Bethel, south of Lebonah and on the east side of the highway that runs from Bethel to Shechem…” 20So they told the descendants of Benjamin, “Go and hide in the vineyards. 21Watch when the unmarried womenk from Shiloh come out to participate in the dances. Then come out of the vineyards and each of you grab a wife from the unmarried womenl from Shiloh. Then go back home to the territory of Benjamin. 22If their fathers or brothers come complaining to us, we’ll tell them ‘Be generous! Give them to us voluntarily, because we didn’t take anyone to be a wife for the men of the tribe of Benjaminm as a result of the battle. And you haven’t incurred guilt by giving your daughters to them.’”

23So the descendants of Benjamin did all of this: they chose and carried away just enough wives from those who danced to meet the number needed, then they left to return to their inheritance, to rebuild their cities, and to live there. 24The Israelis left there at that time, each man to his tribe and family, and each of them went down from there to his territorial allotment.

25Back in those days, Israel didn’t yet have a king, so each person did whatever seemed right in his own opinion.