| 1 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, There shall not
any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. 2 And the people came
to Beth-el, and sat there till even before God, and lifted up their voices,
and wept sore. 3 And they said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, why is this
come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in
Israel? 4 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.
5 And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of
Israel that came not up in the assembly unto Jehovah? For they had made a
great oath concerning him that came not up unto Jehovah to Mizpah, saying, He
shall surely be put to death. 6 And the children of Israel repented them
for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel
this day. 7 How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have
sworn by Jehovah that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?
8 And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not
up unto Jehovah to Mizpah? And, behold, there came none to the camp from
Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. 9 For when the people were numbered,
behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there. 10 And
the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and
commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with
the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones. 11 And this is
the thing that ye shall do: ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every
woman that hath lain by man. 12 And they found among the inhabitants of
Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, that had not known man by lying
with him; and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land
of Canaan.
13 And the whole congregation sent and spake to the children of Benjamin
that were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace unto them. 14 And
Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had
saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not.
15 And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that Jehovah had
made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
16 Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for
them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? 17 And
they said, There must be an inheritance for them that are escaped of
Benjamin, that a tribe be not blotted out from Israel. 18 Howbeit we may
not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn,
saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. 19 And they said,
Behold, there is a feast of Jehovah from year to year in Shiloh, which is on
the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from
Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. 20 And they commanded the
children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, 21 and
see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the 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. 22 And it shall be,
when their fathers or their brethren come to complain unto us, that we will
say unto them, Grant them graciously unto us, because we took not for each
man of them his wife in battle, neither did ye give them unto them,
else would ye now be guilty. 23 And the children of Benjamin did so, and
took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they
carried off: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and built the
cities, and dwelt in them. 24 And 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.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was
right in his own eyes.
Genesis - Public
Domain
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