| New American Standard Bible 1995 | International Standard Version |
| 1Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, "None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin in marriage." | 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 came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. | 2So the people went to Bethel, sat before God until dusk, where they cried out loud and wept bitterly. |
| 3They said, "Why, O LORD, God of Israel, has this come about in Israel, so that one tribe should be missing today in Israel?" | 3"Why, LORD God of Israel," they asked him, "is one tribe missing from Israel?" |
| 4It came about the next day that the people arose early and built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. | 4The next day, the people got up early, built an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. |
| 5Then the sons of Israel said, "Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up in the assembly to the LORD?" For they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come up to the LORD at Mizpah, saying, "He shall surely be put to death." | 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." |
| 6And the sons of Israel were sorry for their brother Benjamin and said, "One tribe is cut off from Israel today. | 6But the Israelis were mourning for their relatives in the tribe of Benjamin. They announced, "One tribe has been eliminated from Israel today! |
| 7"What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?" | 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?" |
| 8And they said, "What one is there of the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the LORD at Mizpah?" And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. | 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, |
| 9For when the people were numbered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there. | 9since when they took a census of the assembly, not even one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was in attendance. |
| 10And the congregation sent 12,000 of the valiant warriors there, and commanded them, saying, "Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones. | 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. |
| 11"This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every man and every woman who has lain with a man." | 11You're to completely destroy every man and every married woman." |
| 12And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. | 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 whole congregation sent word and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them. | 13Then the entire congregation sent for the surviving descendants of Benjamin who were living at the rock of Rimmon and assured them that their intentions toward them were peaceful. |
| 14Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had kept alive from the women of Jabesh-gilead; yet they were not enough for them. | 14So the survivors of the tribe of Benjamin returned at that time, and the Israelis gave them the women whom they had kept alive from the raid on Jabesh-gilead. Even so, there weren't enough for them. |
| 15And the people were sorry for Benjamin because the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. | 15The people felt sorry for the tribe of Benjamin because the LORD had broken one of the tribes of Israel. |
| 16Then the elders of the congregation said, "What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?" | 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 said, "There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be blotted out from Israel. | 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. |
| 18"But we cannot give them wives of our daughters." For the sons of Israel had sworn, saying, "Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin." | 18But we can't give them wives from our own daughters, since we've taken this vow: 'May the LORD curse anyone who gives his daughter as a wife to the tribe of Benjamin!'" |
| 19So they said, "Behold, there is a feast of the LORD from year to year in Shiloh, 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 side of Lebonah." | 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…" |
| 20And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, | 20So they told the descendants of Benjamin, "Go and hide in the vineyards. |
| 21and watch; and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to take part in the dances, then you shall come out of the vineyards and each of you shall catch his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. | 21Watch when the unmarried women 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 women from Shiloh. Then go back home to the territory of Benjamin. |
| 22"It shall come about, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we shall say to them, 'Give them to us voluntarily, because we did not take for each man of Benjamin a wife in battle, nor did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty.'" | 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 Benjamin as a result of the battle. And you haven't incurred guilt by giving your daughters to them.'" |
| 23The sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from those who danced, whom they carried away. And they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the cities and lived in 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 sons of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and each one of them went out from there to his inheritance. | 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. |
| 25In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. | 25Back in those days, Israel didn't yet have a king, so each person did whatever seemed right in his own opinion. |
| New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
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