1Now the men of Israel had made an oath at Mizpeh. They said, "Not one of us will give his daughter to a man of Benjamin as a wife."
2The people came to the house of God and stayed there before God until evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly.
3They said, "O LORD God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel? Why is one tribe missing from Israel today?"
4The next day the people got up early and built an altar there. They offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
5The children of Israel said, "Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up with the assembly to the LORD?" For they had made a solemn oath about anyone who did not come up to the LORD at Mizpeh. They had said, "He shall surely be put to death."
6The children of Israel repented for Benjamin their brother, and said, "Today one tribe is cut off from Israel."
7"What shall we do to get wives for the men who are left? We have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them any of our daughters as wives."
8They said, "Which one of the tribes of Israel did not come up to Mizpeh to the LORD?" And look, no one had come to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the meeting.
9For when the people were counted, look, not one of the people of Jabeshgilead was there.
10So the assembly sent twelve thousand of their bravest men there, and ordered them, "Go and strike down the people of Jabeshgilead with the sword, the women and the children as well."
11"This is what you shall do. You shall completely destroy every male, and every woman who has slept with a man."
12Among the people of Jabeshgilead they found four hundred young women who were virgins and had never slept with a man. They brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13The whole assembly sent men to speak to the children of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and to offer them peace.
14So Benjamin came back at that time, and they gave them the women of Jabeshgilead whom they had kept alive. But even so there were not enough for them.
15The people repented for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a gap in the tribes of Israel.
16Then the elders of the assembly said, "What shall we do to get wives for the men who are left? The women of Benjamin have been destroyed."
17They said, "There must be an inheritance for those of Benjamin who escaped, so that a tribe is not wiped out of Israel."
18"Yet we cannot give them wives from our own daughters, for the children of Israel have sworn, 'Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin.'"
19Then they said, "Look, there is a yearly feast of the LORD in Shiloh. It is held in a place north of Bethel, east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah."
20So they gave this order to the children of Benjamin: "Go and hide in the vineyards and wait."
21Watch, and when the daughters of Shiloh come out to join in the dances, then come out of the vineyards. Each of you catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
22"And when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, we will say to them, 'Be kind to them for our sakes. We did not keep a wife for each man in the war. And you yourselves did not give them wives this time, so you are not guilty.'"
23The children of Benjamin did so. They took wives for themselves, as many as they needed, from the women who were dancing, whom they caught. Then they went back to their own inheritance, rebuilt the cities, and lived in them.
24At that time the children of Israel left, each man to his tribe and to his family. Each man went out from there to his own inheritance.
25In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes.