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Judges 21:1-25 — Wives for the Benjamites

Judg.21.1-25

¹Now the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying, 'None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.' ²Then the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and they lifted up their voices and wept with great weeping. ³And they said, 'Why, LORD, God of Israel, has this happened in Israel, that today one tribe should be missing from Israel?' ⁴The next day the people rose early, built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ⁵And the sons of Israel said, 'Who among all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the LORD?' For a great oath had been made concerning anyone who did not come up to the LORD at Mizpah, saying, 'He shall surely be put to death.' ⁶And the sons of Israel felt sorrow for Benjamin their brother, and they said, 'Today one tribe has been cut down from Israel.' ⁷What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them any of our daughters as wives? ⁸And they said, 'Which one of the tribes of Israel did not come up to the LORD at Mizpah?' And behold, no man from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp, to the assembly. ⁹For when the people were mustered, behold, there was no man there from the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead. ¹⁰So the congregation sent there twelve thousand men of valor and commanded them, saying, 'Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and the little ones.' ¹¹And this is what you shall do: every male, and every woman who has known a man by lying with him, you shall devote to destruction. ¹²And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred 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. ¹³Then the whole congregation sent and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and offered them peace . ¹⁴And Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had kept alive from the women of Jabesh Gilead; but they were not enough for them. ¹⁵And the people felt sorrow for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a breach among the tribes of Israel. ¹⁶Then the elders of the congregation said, 'What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women have been destroyed from Benjamin?' ¹⁷And they said, 'There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe may not be blotted out from Israel.' ¹⁸But we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the sons of Israel had sworn, saying, 'Cursed is the one who gives a wife to Benjamin.' ¹⁹So they said, 'Behold, there is a yearly feast of the LORD at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.' ²⁰And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, 'Go and lie in wait in the vineyards.' ²¹And watch: if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out from the vineyards, and each of you seize for himself a wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. ²²And when their fathers or their brothers come to contend with us, we will say to them, 'Show them favor for our sake , because we did not take a wife for each man in the battle; and you did not give your daughters to them, or else you would now be guilty.' ²³And the sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from the dancers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, rebuilt the cities, and lived in them. ²⁴And at that time the sons of Israel departed from there, each man to his tribe and to his clan, and each went out from there to his inheritance. ²⁵In those days there was no king in Israel . Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

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4/11/2026

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