| 1 | And the men of Israel have sworn in Mizpeh, saying, `None of us doth give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.` |
| 2 | And the people come in to Beth-El, and sit there till the evening before God, and lift up their voice, and weep -- a great weeping, |
| 3 | and say, `Why, O Jehovah, God of Israel, hath this been in Israel -- to be lacking to-day, from Israel, one tribe?` |
| 4 | And it cometh to pass on the morrow, that the people rise early, and build there an altar, and cause to ascend burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. |
| 5 | And the sons of Israel say, `Who [is] he that hath not come up in the assembly out of all the tribes of Israel unto Jehovah?` for the great oath hath been concerning him who hath not come up unto Jehovah to Mizpeh, saying, `He is surely put to death.` |
| 6 | And the sons of Israel repent concerning Benjamin their brother, and say, `There hath been to-day cut off one tribe from Israel, |
| 7 | what do we do for them -- for those who are left -- for wives, and we -- we have sworn by Jehovah not to give to them of our daughters for wives?` |
| 8 | And they say, `Who is [that] one out of the tribes of Israel who hath not come up unto Jehovah to Mizpeh?` and lo, none hath come in unto the camp from Jabesh-Gilead -- unto the assembly. |
| 9 | And the people numbered themselves, and lo, there is not there a man of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead. |
| 10 | And the company send there twelve thousand men of the sons of valour, and command them, saying, `Go -- and ye have smitten the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead by the mouth of the sword, even the women and the infants. |
| 11 | And this [is] the thing which ye do; every male, and every woman knowing the lying of a male, ye devote.` |
| 12 | And they find out of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead four hundred young women, virgins, who have not known man by the lying of a male, and they bring them in unto the camp at Shiloh, which [is] in the land of Canaan. |
| 13 | And all the company send, and speak, unto the sons of Benjamin who [are] in the rock Rimmon, and proclaim to them peace; |
| 14 | and Benjamin turneth back at that time, and they give to them the women whom they have kept alive of the women of Jabesh-Gilead, and they have not found for [all of] them so. |
| 15 | And the people repented concerning Benjamin, for Jehovah had made a breach among the tribes of Israel. |
| 16 | And the elders of the company say, `What do we do to the remnant for wives -- for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin?` |
| 17 | And they say, `A possession of an escaped party [is] to Benjamin, and a tribe is not blotted out from Israel; |
| 18 | and we -- we are not able to give to them wives out of our daughters, for the sons of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed [is] he who is giving a wife to Benjamin.` |
| 19 | And they say, `Lo, a festival of Jehovah [is] in Shiloh, from time to time, which [is] on the north of Beth-El, at the rising of the sun, by the highway which is going up from Beth-El to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.` |
| 20 | And they command the sons of Benjamin, saying, `Go -- and ye have laid wait in the vineyards, |
| 21 | and have seen, and lo, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances -- then ye have gone out from the vineyards, and caught for you each his wife out of the daughters of Shiloh, and gone to the land of Benjamin; |
| 22 | and it hath been, when their fathers or their brethren come in to plead unto us, that we have said unto them, Favour us [by] them, for we have not taken [to] each his wife in battle, for ye -- ye have not given to them at this time [that] ye are guilty.` |
| 23 | And the sons of Benjamin do so, and take women according to their number, out of the dancers whom they have taken violently away; and they go, and turn back unto their inheritance, and build the cities, and dwell in them. |
| 24 | And the sons of Israel go up and down thence at that time, each to his tribe, and to his family; and they go out thence each to his inheritance. |
| 25 | In those days there is no king in Israel; each doth that which is right in his own eyes. |
