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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 L
ORD
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 L
ORD
? For they had made a great oath concerning him
that came not up to the L
ORD
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 L
ORD
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 L
ORD
?
And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.
9
For the people
were numbered, and, behold,
there were
none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there.
10
And 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
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 Jabesh-gilead 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 Jabesh- gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not.
15
And the people repented
them for Benjamin, because that the L
ORD
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 L
ORD
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
favourable 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:
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