Judges 21
21
1The men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, “None of us will allow our daughters to marry a Benjamite.” 2The Israelites went to Bethel and sat there before God until the evening, crying loudly in distress. 3“Lord, God of Israel, why has this happened to Israel?” they asked. “Today one of our tribes is missing from Israel.”
4The next day they got up early, built an altar, and brought burnt offerings and friendship offerings. 5“Which of all the tribes of Israel didn't attend the assembly we held before the Lord?” they asked. For they had sworn a sacred oath that anyone who did not come before the Lord at Mizpah would without exception be executed.
6The Israelites felt sorry for their brother Benjamin, saying, “Today one tribe has been hacked off from Israel! 7What shall we do about wives for those who are left, since we have sworn an oath before the Lord that we will not allow any of our daughters to marry them?”
8Then they asked, “Which one of all the tribes of Israel didn't attend the assembly we held before the Lord at Mizpah?” They found out that no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp for the assembly, 9for once they had done a head count, there was nobody there from Jabesh-gilead.
10So the assembly sent twelve thousand of their best warriors there. They gave them orders, saying, “Go and kill the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with your swords, even the women and children. 11This is what you have to do: Destroy#21:11. Literally, “devote to destruction”: this was the way God had ordered the Israelites to deal with the Canaanite towns (for example Jericho). Now it is being illegitimately applied to another Israelite town. every male and every woman who has had sex with a man.”
12They managed to find among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred virgins who had not had sex with a man. They took them to the camp in Shiloh, in the land of Canaan.#21:12. It seems that this reference to Israel as “the land of Canaan” is deliberate and is intended to show how far Israel had fallen into idolatry. 13Then the whole Israelite assembly sent a message to the Benjamites at Pomegranate Rock to tell them, “Peace!” 14So the men of Benjamin went back home, and the Israelites gave them the four hundred women from Jabesh-gilead who had been spared as wives. However, there weren't enough for all of them.
15The people felt sorry for the Benjamites because the Lord had made this empty hole among the Israelite tribes. 16The elders of the assembly asked, “What shall we do to supply the remaining wives because all the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” 17They added, “There have to be heirs for the Benjamite survivors—an Israelite tribe of Israel can't be wiped out. 18But we can't let them have our daughters as wives, since we as the people of Israel swore a sacred oath, saying, ‘Anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite is cursed!’”
19Then they said, “Look! Every year there's the Lord's festival in Shiloh. It's held north of Bethel, and east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, south of Lebonah.”
20So they ordered the Benjamites, “Go and hide in the vineyards. 21Keep a lookout, and when you see the young women from Shiloh come out to perform their dances, run out from the vineyards, and each of you abduct#21:21. The word used here is an unusual one and means to seize someone by force. a wife for yourself and go back home to the land of Benjamin. 22If their fathers or brothers come complaining to us, we'll tell them, ‘Please do us a favor, because we couldn't find enough wives for them in the war.#21:22. Referring to the attack on Jabesh-gilead And it's not as if you're guilty of breaking the oath since you didn't give them in marriage.’”
23The Benjaminites did as they were ordered. Each man grabbed one of the women dancers up to the total needed and carried her off to be his wife. Then they went back to their own land, where they rebuilt their towns and lived in them.
24Then the Israelites left and went home to their tribes and families, each one going to the land they owned. 25At that time Israel didn't have a king—everyone did what they themselves thought was the right thing to do.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Judges 21
21
1Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. 2And the people came to Beth-el, and sat there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore. 3And they said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel? 4And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. 5And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up in the assembly unto Jehovah? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up unto Jehovah to Mizpah, saying, He shall surely be put to death. 6And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. 7How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by Jehovah that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?
8And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up unto Jehovah to Mizpah? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. 9For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there. 10And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones. 11And this is the thing that ye shall do: ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man. 12And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, that had not known man by lying with him; and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13And the whole congregation sent and spake to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace unto them. 14And Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not. 15And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that Jehovah had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
16Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? 17And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not blotted out from Israel. 18Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. 19And they said, Behold, there is a feast of Jehovah from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. 20And they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, 21and see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the 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. 22And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come to complain unto us, that we will say unto them, Grant them graciously unto us, because we took not for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did ye give them unto them, else would ye now be guilty. 23And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they carried off: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and built the cities, and dwelt in them. 24And 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.
25In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
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