| Chapter
21 |
| 1 | Now
the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give
his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. |
|
2 | And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till
even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; |
| 3 | And 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? |
| 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 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. |
|
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 the LORD 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 to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the camp from
Jabeshgilead to the assembly. |
| 9
| For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the
inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there. |
|
10 | And 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 | 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 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. |
|
13 | And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the
children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto
them. |
| 14 | And 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. |
| 15 | And the people repented them for
Benjamin, because that the LORD 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 be
escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel. |
| 18 | Howbeit 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. |
|
19 | Then 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. |
| 20 | Therefore 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 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 unto us to
complain, that we will say unto them, Be favorable 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. |
|
23 | And 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. |
| 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. |
