| New Living Translation | King James Bible |
| 1The Israelites had vowed at Mizpah, “We will never give our daughters in marriage to a man from the tribe of Benjamin.” | 1Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. |
| 2Now the people went to Bethel and sat in the presence of God until evening, weeping loudly and bitterly. | 2And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; |
| 3“O LORD, God of Israel,” they cried out, “why has this happened in Israel? Now one of our tribes is missing from Israel!” | 3And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel? |
| 4Early the next morning the people built an altar and presented their burnt offerings and peace offerings on it. | 4And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. |
| 5Then they said, “Who among the tribes of Israel did not join us at Mizpah when we held our assembly in the presence of the LORD?” At that time they had taken a solemn oath in the LORD’s presence, vowing that anyone who refused to come would be put to death. | 5And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death. |
| 6The Israelites felt sorry for their brother Benjamin and said, “Today one of the tribes of Israel has been cut off. | 6And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. |
| 7How can we find wives for the few who remain, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them our daughters in marriage?” | 7How 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? |
| 8So they asked, “Who among the tribes of Israel did not join us at Mizpah when we assembled in the presence of the LORD?” And they discovered that no one from Jabesh-gilead had attended the assembly. | 8And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly. |
| 9For after they counted all the people, no one from Jabesh-gilead was present. | 9For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there. |
| 10So the assembly sent 12,000 of their best warriors to Jabesh-gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children. | 10And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children. |
| 11“This is what you are to do,” they said. “Completely destroy all the males and every woman who is not a virgin.” | 11And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man. |
| 12Among the residents of Jabesh-gilead they found 400 young virgins who had never slept with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan. | 12And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. |
| 13The Israelite assembly sent a peace delegation to the remaining people of Benjamin who were living at the rock of Rimmon. | 13And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them. |
| 14Then the men of Benjamin returned to their homes, and the 400 women of Jabesh-gilead who had been spared were given to them as wives. But there were not enough women for all of them. | 14And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead: and yet so they sufficed them not. |
| 15The people felt sorry for Benjamin because the LORD had made this gap among the tribes of Israel. | 15And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. |
| 16So the elders of the assembly asked, “How can we find wives for the few who remain, since the women of the tribe of Benjamin are dead? | 16Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? |
| 17There must be heirs for the survivors so that an entire tribe of Israel is not wiped out. | 17And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel. |
| 18But we cannot give them our own daughters in marriage because we have sworn with a solemn oath that anyone who does this will fall under God’s curse.” | 18Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. |
| 19Then they thought of the annual festival of the LORD held in Shiloh, south of Lebonah and north of Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem. | 19Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. |
| 20They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, “Go and hide in the vineyards. | 20Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; |
| 21When you see the young women of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to the land of Benjamin to be your wife! | 21And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. |
| 22And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, ‘Please be sympathetic. Let them have your daughters, for we didn’t find wives for all of them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not actually give your daughters to them in marriage.’” | 22And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty. |
| 23So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. Each man caught one of the women as she danced in the celebration and carried her off to be his wife. They returned to their own land, and they rebuilt their towns and lived in them. | 23And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them. |
| 24Then the people of Israel departed by tribes and families, and they returned to their own homes. | 24And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance. |
| 25In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. | 25In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. |
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