1Now the men of Israel had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, "None of us will give our daughters as wives to the men of Benjamin."
2The people went to Bethel and sat there until evening in the presence of God. They cried out loudly and wept bitterly.
3They said, "Yahweh, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel? Why should one tribe be 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 people of Israel asked, "Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come to the assembly before Yahweh?" This was because they had made a solemn oath that anyone who did not come to Yahweh at Mizpah would surely be put to death.
6The people of Israel were sad for Benjamin, their brother, and said, "Today, one tribe has been cut off from Israel.
7How can we find wives for those who are left, since we swore an oath by Yahweh that we would not give them any of our daughters as wives?"
8They said, "Which of the tribes of Israel did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah?" It turned out that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly.
9When the people were counted, none of the residents of Jabesh Gilead were there.
10So the community sent twelve thousand of their bravest men there and commanded them, "Go and kill the residents of Jabesh Gilead with your swords, including the women and children."
11"This is what you must do: completely destroy every male and every woman who has had sex with a man."
12Among the residents of Jabesh Gilead, they found four hundred young virgins who had never had sex with a man. They brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13The whole community sent a message to the people of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon and offered them peace.
14Benjamin returned at that time. The Israelites gave them the women from Jabesh Gilead whom they had spared. But there still weren't enough women for them.
15The people were still sad for Benjamin because Yahweh had created a division among the tribes of Israel.
16Then the elders of the community asked, "How can we find wives for the remaining men, since all the women from Benjamin have been destroyed?"
17They said, "There must be a way for the men who survived from Benjamin to have descendants, so that a tribe is not wiped out from Israel."
18However, we cannot give them our daughters as wives, because the people of Israel made an oath: 'May anyone who gives a wife to a man from Benjamin be cursed.'
19So they said, "Look, there's an annual festival for Yahweh in Shiloh. It's north of Bethel, on the east side of the main road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah."
20They gave the tribe of Benjamin these instructions: “Go and hide in the vineyards.
21Watch, and when the young women from Shiloh come out to dance, then come out of the vineyards. Each of you grab a wife from the young women of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin.
22If their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we will tell them, ‘Please be understanding with them, because we did not get wives for each of them in battle, and you did not give them wives voluntarily; otherwise, you would now be guilty.’ ”
23The people of Benjamin did as they were told. Each man took a wife from the dancers they captured. Then they went back to their land, rebuilt their cities, and lived in them.
24At that time, the people of Israel left there, each person returning to their own tribe and family, and each went back to their own inherited land.
25In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what they thought was right.