¹⁶ Then the elders of the congregation said, “What are we to do for wives for those who are left, since the women have been eliminated from Benjamin?” ¹⁷ And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be wiped out from Israel. ¹⁸ But we cannot give them wives from our daughters.” For the sons of Israel ^(A)had sworn, saying, “Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin!”

¹⁹ So they said, “Behold, there is a feast of the Lord from year to year in ^(B)Shiloh, which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south side of Lebonah.” ²⁰ And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, ²¹ and watch; and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to ^[a](C)take part in the dances, then you shall come out of the vineyards, and each of you shall seize his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. ²² And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we shall say to them, ‘^[b]Give them to us voluntarily, because we did not take for each man of Benjamin ^[c]a wife in battle, ^[d](D)nor did you give them to them, ^[e]otherwise you would now be guilty.’” ²³ The sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from those who danced, whom they seized. And they went and returned to their inheritance, and ^(E)rebuilt the cities and lived in them.