21 SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21

The War Against Benjamin

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:1

  1     ^¶  Now the men of Yisrael had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin to wife.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:2

  2    And the people came to the house of Bethel El, and abode there till evening before YAHWEH, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore;

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  3    And said, O YAHWEH the Sovereign Ruler of Yisrael, why is this come to pass in Yisrael, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Yisrael?

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  4    And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and shalom offerings.

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  5    And the children of Yisrael said, Who [is there] among all the tribes of Yisrael that came not up with the congregation to YAHWEH? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to YAHWEH to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:6

  6    And the children of Yisrael repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Yisrael this day.

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  7    How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by YAHWEH that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?

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  8    And they said, What one [is there] of the tribes of Yisrael that came not up to Mizpeh to YAHWEH? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:9

  9    For the people were numbered, and, behold, [there were] none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:10

  10    And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the most valiant, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:11

  11    And this is the thing that you shall do, You shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that has lain by man.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:12

  12    And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:13

  13    And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call in shalom to them.

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  14    And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead: and yet so they sufficed them not.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:15

  15    And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that YAHWEH had made a breach in the tribes of Yisrael.

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  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?

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:17

  17    And they said, [There must be] an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Yisrael.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:18

  18    Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Yisrael have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that gives a wife to Benjamin.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:19

  19    Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of YAHWEH in Shiloh yearly [in a place] which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:20

  20    Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:21

  21    And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come you out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:22

  22    And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come to us to complain, that we will say to them, Be favorable to them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for you did not give to them at this time, that you should be guilty.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:23

  23    And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned to their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:24

  24    And the children of Yisrael departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.

SHOPHETIM - JUDGES 21:25

  25    In those days [there was] no king in Yisrael: every man did [that which was] right in his own eyes.