^21:1The Israelites had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, “Not one of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite.” ^21:2So the people came to Bethel¹ and sat there before God until evening, weeping loudly and uncontrollably.²^21:3They said, “Why, O Lord God of Israel, has this happened in Israel?” An entire³ tribe has disappeared from Israel today!”

^21:4The next morning the people got up early and built an altar there. They offered up burnt sacrifices and token of peace.⁴^21:5The Israelites asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the Lord?” They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah must certainly be executed.⁵^21:6The Israelites regretted what had happened to⁶ their brother Benjamin. They said, “Today we cut off an entire⁷ tribe from Israel! ^21:7How can we find wives for those who are left?⁸ After all, we took an oath in the Lord’s name not to give them our daughters as wives.” ^21:8So they asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?” Now it just so happened no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the gathering.⁹^21:9When they took roll call,¹⁰ they noticed¹¹ none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead were there. ^21:10So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors¹² against Jabesh Gilead.¹³ They commanded them, “Go and kill with your swords¹⁴ the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children. ^21:11Do this:¹⁵ exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has had sexual relations with a male.¹⁶ But spare the lives of any virgins.” So they did as instructed.¹⁷^21:12They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young girls who were virgins—they had never had sexual relations with a male.¹⁸ They brought them back to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

^21:13The entire assembly sent messengers to the Benjaminites at the cliff of Rimmon and assured them they would not be harmed.¹⁹^21:14The Benjaminites returned at that time, and the Israelites²⁰ gave to them the women they had spared from Jabesh Gilead. But there were not enough to go around.²¹

^21:15The people regretted what had happened to²² Benjamin because the Lord had weakened²³ the Israelite tribes. ^21:16The leaders²⁴ of the assembly said, “How can we find wives for those who are left?²⁵ After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out. ^21:17The²⁶ remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out.²⁷^21:18But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them,²⁸ for the Israelites took an oath, saying, ‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’²⁹^21:19However, there is an annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel³⁰ (east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem) and south of Lebonah.” ^21:20So they commanded the Benjaminites, “Go hide in the vineyards, ^21:21and keep your eyes open.³¹ When you see³² the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration,³³ jump out from the vineyards. Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin. ^21:22When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us,³⁴ we’ll say to them, “Do us a favor and let them be,³⁵ for we could not get each one a wife through battle.³⁶ Don’t worry about breaking your oath!³⁷ You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’ ”³⁸

^21:23The Benjaminites did as instructed.³⁹ They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives.⁴⁰ They went home⁴¹ to their own territory,⁴² rebuilt their cities, and settled down.⁴³^21:24Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property.⁴⁴^21:25In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.⁴⁵

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Footnotes

1 For location see ; ; ; ; .
2 Heb “and they lifted up their voice[s] and wept with great weeping.” Both the cognate accusative בְּכִי (bekhi, “weeping”) and the attributive adjective גָדוֹל (gadol, “great”) emphasize their degree of sorrow.
3 Heb “one.”
4 Or “peace offerings.”
5 Heb “A great oath there was concerning the one who did not go up before the Lord at Mizpah, saying, ‘He must surely be put to death.’ ”
6 Or “felt sorry for.”
7 Heb “cut off one.”
8 Heb “What should we do for them, for the remaining ones, concerning wives?”
9 Heb “Look, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.”
10 Or “when the people were mustered.”
11 Heb “and look.”
12 Heb “men, sons of strength.”
13 Heb “there.”
14 Heb “the edge of the sword.”
15 Heb “And this is the thing that you will do.”
16 Heb “every woman who is familiar with the bed of a male.”
17 Some Greek witnesses (notably Codex Vaticanus [B]) add the words, “ ‘But the virgins you should keep alive.’ And they did so.” These additional words, which probably represent the original Hebrew text, can be retroverted: וְאֶת־הַבְּתוּלוֹת תְּחַיּוּ וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן (ve’et-habbétulot tékhayyu vayya’asu khen). It is likely that a scribe’s eye jumped from the vav (ו) on וְאֶת (vé’et) to the initial vav of v. 11, accidentally leaving out the intervening letters. The present translation is based on this reconstruction.
18 Heb “who had not known a man with respect to the bed of a male.”
19 Heb “And all the assembly sent and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were at the cliff of Rimmon and they proclaimed to them peace.”
20 Heb “they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
21 Heb “but they did not find for them enough.”
22 Or “felt sorry for.”
23 Heb “had made a gaping hole in.” The narrator uses imagery that compares Israel to a wall that has been breached.
24 Or “elders.”
25 Heb “What should we do for the remaining ones concerning wives?”
26 The Hebrew text has “and they said” at the beginning of the verse. For stylistic reasons the translation treats v. 17 as a continuation of the remarks of the leaders in v. 16.
27 Heb “An inheritance for the remnant belonging to Benjamin, and a tribe from Israel will not be wiped away.” The first statement lacks a verb. Some prefer to emend the text to read, “How can an inheritance remain for the remnant of Benjamin?”
28 Heb “But we are not able to give to them wives from our daughters.”
29 Heb “is cursed.”
30 For location see ; ; ; ; .
31 Heb “and look.”
32 Heb “and look, when.”
33 Heb “in the dances.”
34 The (original) and read “to you.”
35 The words “and let them be” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
36 Heb “for we did not take each his wife in battle.” Through battle. This probably refers to the battle against Jabesh Gilead, which only produced four hundred of the six hundred wives needed.
37 This sentence is not in the Hebrew text. It is supplied in the translation to clarify the logic of the statement.
38 Heb “You did not give to them, now you are guilty.” The as it stands makes little sense. It is preferable to emend לֹא (lo’, “not”) to לוּא (lu’, “if”). This particle introduces a purely hypothetical condition, “If you had given to them [but you didn’t].” See G. F. Moore, Judges (), .
39 Heb “did so.”
40 Heb “And they took wives according to their number from the dancing girls whom they abducted.”
41 Heb “went and returned.”
42 Heb “inheritance.”
43 Heb “and lived in them.”
44 Heb “his inheritance.”
45 Heb “Each was doing what was right in his [own] eyes.” Each man did what he considered to be right. The Book of Judges closes with this note, which summarizes the situation of the Israelite tribes during this period.