Skip to content
Judges / Aftermath of Civil War: Preservation of Benjamin
Navigation
A A

Aftermath of Civil War: Preservation of Benjamin

Judges 21:1-25

21
Chapter 21
1 And the men of Israel swore at Mizpah, saying, "None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife." 2 The people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before God. They lifted up their voice and wept bitterly. 3 And they said, "Why, LORD God of Israel, has this happened in Israel, that one tribe is missing today from Israel?" 4 And it was on the next day, and the people arose early and built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5 And the sons of Israel said, "Who is the one who did not come up to the assembly from all the tribes of Israel to the LORD?" For the great oath was for the one who did not come up to the LORD, the one commanded saying, "Death—he shall be put to death." 6 The Israelites mourned over Benjamin their brother and said, "A tribe is cut off today from Israel." 7 What shall we do for the remaining ones for wives? We swore an oath by the LORD not to give them our daughters as wives. 8 They said, "Who is one from the tribes of Israel who did not go up to the LORD at Mizpah?" And behold, no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly. 9 The people were mustered, and there was no man there from the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead. 10 The congregation sent twelve thousand men of the army there and commanded them, "Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the sword, including the women and the little ones." 11 And this is the thing that you shall do: every male and every woman who has known a male by lying with him you shall utterly destroy. 12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young women, virgins who had not known a man by lying with a male, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 13 And they sent all the congregation, and they spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were at the Rock of Rimmon and called peace to them. 14 At that time Benjamin dwelt there, and they gave them the women who had survived from the women of Jabesh-gilead, but they did not find enough for them. 15 And the people regretted for Benjamin because the LORD had made a breach among the tribes of Israel. 16 The elders of the congregation said, "What shall we do for the survivors for wives? A woman has been destroyed from Benjamin." 17 And they said, "You shall possess an escape for Benjamin, and a tribe shall not be blotted out from Israel." 18 We cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the Israelites have sworn, saying, "Cursed is the one who gives a wife to Benjamin." 19 And they said, "Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly, which is north of Bethel, east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah." 20 They commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards." 21 You shall see, and there—if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances—then you shall go out from the vineyards and seize for yourselves, each man his woman from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22 And when their fathers or their brothers come to bring legal dispute to us, we will say to them, “Be gracious to them, for we did not take a man his woman in the warfare, for you did not grant to them; at this time you will be guilty.” 23 And the sons of Benjamin did so and carried off wives for themselves, according to their number, from the dancers whom they had kidnapped; and they went and returned to their inheritance, built the cities, and dwelt in them. 24 And the sons of Israel went from there at that time, each man to his tribe and to his family. And they went out from there, each man to his inheritance. 25 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.