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Israel Provides Wives for Benjamin
The Israelites had vowed at Mizpah, “We will never give our daughters in marriage to a man from the tribe of Benjamin.”
The Israelites had vowed at Mizpah, “We will never give our daughters in marriage to a man from the tribe of Benjamin.”
Wives Provided for the Tribe of Benjamin
Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, “No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.”
Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, “No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.”
Now the people went to Bethel and sat in the presence of God until evening, weeping loudly and bitterly.
And the people came to Bethel and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly.
“O LORD, God of Israel,” they cried out, “why has this happened in Israel? Now one of our tribes is missing from Israel!”
And they said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel?”
Early the next morning the people built an altar and presented their burnt offerings and peace offerings on it.
And the next day the people rose early and built there an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
Then they said, “Who among the tribes of Israel did not join us at Mizpah when we held our assembly in the presence of the LORD?” At that time they had taken a solemn oath in the LORD’s presence, vowing that anyone who refused to come would be put to death.
And the people of Israel said, “Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the Lord?” For they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.”
The Israelites felt sorry for their brother Benjamin and said, “Today one of the tribes of Israel has been cut off.
And the people of Israel had compassion for Benjamin their brother and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel this day.
How can we find wives for the few who remain, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them our daughters in marriage?”
What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them any of our daughters for wives?”
So they asked, “Who among the tribes of Israel did not join us at Mizpah when we assembled in the presence of the LORD?” And they discovered that no one from Jabesh-gilead had attended the assembly.
And they said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah?” And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead, to the assembly.
For after they counted all the people, no one from Jabesh-gilead was present.
For when the people were mustered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there.
So the assembly sent 12,000 of their best warriors to Jabesh-gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children.
So the congregation sent 12,000 of their bravest men there and commanded them, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword; also the women and the little ones.
This is what you shall do: every male and every woman that has lain with a male you shall devote to destruction.”
Among the residents of Jabesh-gilead they found 400 young virgins who had never slept with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
The Israelite assembly sent a peace delegation to the remaining people of Benjamin who were living at the rock of Rimmon.
Then the whole congregation sent word to the people of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon and proclaimed peace to them.
Then the men of Benjamin returned to their homes, and the 400 women of Jabesh-gilead who had been spared were given to them as wives. But there were not enough women for all of them.
And Benjamin returned at that time. And they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead, but they were not enough for them.
The people felt sorry for Benjamin because the LORD had made this gap among the tribes of Israel.
And the people had compassion on Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
So the elders of the assembly asked, “How can we find wives for the few who remain, since the women of the tribe of Benjamin are dead?
Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?”
There must be heirs for the survivors so that an entire tribe of Israel is not wiped out.
And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel.
But we cannot give them our own daughters in marriage because we have sworn with a solemn oath that anyone who does this will fall under God’s curse.”
Yet we cannot give them wives from our daughters.” For the people of Israel had sworn, “Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.”
Then they thought of the annual festival of the LORD held in Shiloh, south of Lebonah and north of Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem.
So they said, “Behold, there is the yearly feast of the Lord at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”
They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, “Go and hide in the vineyards.
And they commanded the people of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in ambush in the vineyards
When you see the young women of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to the land of Benjamin to be your wife!
and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, ‘Please be sympathetic. Let them have your daughters, for we didn’t find wives for all of them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not actually give your daughters to them in marriage.’”
And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Grant them graciously to us, because we did not take for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty.’”
So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. Each man caught one of the women as she danced in the celebration and carried her off to be his wife. They returned to their own land, and they rebuilt their towns and lived in them.
And the people of Benjamin did so and took their wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and lived in them.
Then the people of Israel departed by tribes and families, and they returned to their own homes.
And the people of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.