1Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as wife. 2And the people came to Beth-el, and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept bitterly. 3And they said, O Yehovah, the God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel? 4And it happened the next day, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. 5And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that did not come up in the assembly to Yehovah? For they had made a great oath concerning him who did not come up to Yehovah to Mizpah, saying, He shall surely be put to death. 6And the children of Israel were sorry for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. 7What shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by Yehovah that we will not give them of our daughters as wives? 8And they said, Which one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to Yehovah to Mizpah? And, behold, none had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. 9For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there. 10And the congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the most valiant, 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. 11And this is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has lain with a man. 12And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, who had not known a man by lying with him; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 13And the whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them. 14And 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 were not enough for them. 15And the people were sorry for Benjamin, because Yehovah had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. 16Then the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? 17And they said, There must be an inheritance for those who have escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be blotted out from Israel. 18However, we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin. 19And they said, Behold, there is a feast of Yehovah from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. 20And they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, 21and see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards, and catch every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22And it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, Grant them graciously to us, because we did not take for each man of them his wife in battle, nor did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty. 23And the children of Benjamin did so, and took wives for themselves, according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off: and they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and dwelt in them. 24And the children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance. 25In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.