21:1 Now the men of Yisrael had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benyamin to wife.
21:2 And the people came to the bayit of Elohim (אלהים), and abode there till even before Elohim (אלהים), and lifted up their voices, and wept sore;
21:3 And said, O YHWH (יהוה) Elohim (אלהים) of Yisrael, why is this come to pass in Yisrael, that there should be to day one Shivtei lacking in Yisrael?
21:4 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered Olot and Shalom offerings.
21:5 And benai Yisrael said, Who [is there] among all the Shivtei of Yisrael that came not up with the congregation unto YHWH (יהוה)? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to YHWH (יהוה) to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death.
21:6 And benai Yisrael repented them for Benyamin their brother, and said, There is one Shivtei cut off from Yisrael this day.
21:7 How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by YHWH (יהוה) that we will not give them of our banot to wives?
Provision for tribe's future
21:8 And they said, What one [is there] of the Shivtei of Yisrael that came not up to Mizpeh to YHWH (יהוה)? And, Hinnei, there came none to the camp from Yabesh-Gil'ad to the assembly.
21:9 For the people were numbered, and, Hinnei, [there were] none of the inhabitants of Yabesh-Gil'ad there.
21:10 And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Yabesh-Gil'ad with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.
21:11 And this [is] the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.
21:12 And they found among the inhabitants of Yabesh-Gil'ad 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 Eretz Canaan.
21:13 And the whole congregation sent [some] to speak to benai Benyamin that [were] in the rock Rimmon, and to call Shalomably unto them.
21:14 And Benyamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Yabesh-Gil'ad: and yet so they sufficed them not.
21:15 And the people repented them for Benyamin, because that YHWH (יהוה) had made a breach in the Shivtei of Yisrael.
21:16 Then the ziknei the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benyamin?
21:17 And they said, [There must be] an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benyamin, that a Shivtei be not destroyed out of Yisrael.
21:18 Howbeit we may not give them wives of our banot: for benai Yisrael have sworn, saying, Cursed [be] he that giveth a wife to Benyamin.
21:19 Then they said, Hinnei, [there is] a feast of YHWH (יהוה) in Shiloh yearly [in a place] which [is] on the north side of Beit-el, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beit-el to Sh'khem, and on the south of Lebonah.
21:20 Therefore they commanded benai Benyamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the avel-kramim (vineyards);
21:21 And see, and, Hinnei, if the banot of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the avel-kramim (vineyards), and catch you every man his wife of the banot of Shiloh, and go to the Eretz Benyamin.
21:22 And it shall be, when their fathers or their achim 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.
21:23 And benai Benyamin 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.
21:24 And benai Yisrael departed thence at that time, every man to his Shivtei and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.
21:25 In those days [there was] no melekh in Yisrael: every man did [that which was] right in his own eyes.