¹⁸ We can’t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath:^(A) ‘Cursed be anyone who gives^(B) a wife to a Benjamite.’

Wives for the Benjamites

21 The men of Israel had taken an oath^(A) at Mizpah:^(B) “Not one of us will give^(C) his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”

³⁵ When he saw her, he tore his clothes^(A) and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.^(B)”