Judges 21
Complete Jewish Bible
21 The men of Isra’el had sworn in Mitzpah that none of them would let his daughter marry a man from Binyamin. 2 The people came to Beit-El and stayed there before God till evening crying out and weeping. 3 They said: “Adonai, why has this come about in Isra’el? Why should there be today in Isra’el one tribe missing?” 4 The next day the people got up early, built an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5 The people of Isra’el asked, “Who among the tribes of Isra’el did not come up to assemble before Adonai? For they had made a great oath to put to death whoever didn’t come up to Adonai at Mitzpah. 6 The people of Isra’el became sorry for Binyamin their brother and said, “Today one tribe has been cut off from Isra’el. 7 How are we going to obtain wives for those who remain alive, since we’ve sworn by Adonai that we won’t let our daughters marry them?”
8 Then they asked who from the tribes of Isra’el had not come up to Adonai at Mitzpah and found that none had come from Yavesh-Gil‘ad to the camp where the assembly was; 9 since when the people were counted, none of the inhabitants of Yavesh-Gil‘ad were found there. 10 So the gathering sent 12,000 warriors there and ordered them, “Go, and put the people who live in Yavesh-Gil‘ad to death with the sword, including women and children. 11 Completely destroy every man and every woman who has had sex with a man.” 12 Among the inhabitants of Yavesh-Gil‘ad they found 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Kena‘an.
13 Then the whole gathering sent a message proclaiming peace to the people of Binyamin who were at the Rock of Rimmon. 14 So Binyamin returned at that time, and the people of Isra’el gave them the women they had kept alive of the women from Yavesh-Gil‘ad. But those weren’t enough for them. 15 The people were still sorry for Binyamin because Adonai had made a division among the tribes of Isra’el.
16 The leaders of the assembly asked, “What are we to do for those who still don’t have wives, inasmuch as all the women of Binyamin have been killed?” 17 They said, “There has to be a way to help the survivors preserve Binyamin’s inheritance, so that a tribe will not be eliminated from Isra’el. 18 Yet we can’t give them our daughters as wives.” For the people of Isra’el had sworn, “Cursed be whoever gives a wife to Binyamin.”
19 Then they said, “Look, each year there’s a festival in honor of Adonai in Shiloh, north of Beit-El, on the east side of the road that goes up from Beit-El to Sh’khem, and south of Levonah.” 20 They ordered the men of Binyamin, “Go, hide in the vineyards, 21 and keep watch. If the girls of Shiloh come out to do their dances, then come out of the vineyards, and each of you catch for himself a wife from the Shiloh girls, and go on to the land of Binyamin. 22 When their fathers or brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Give them as a personal favor to us, because we didn’t take wives for each of them in battle. You didn’t give them to them; that would have made you guilty of breaking your oath.’” 23 So the men of Binyamin did this — they took wives for themselves from the girls who were dancing, as many as they needed. They carried them off, went back to the land of their inheritance, rebuilt the cities and lived in them. 24 The people of Isra’el then left that place, each man returned to his tribe and family, and each man went out from there to the land he had inherited.
25 At that time there was no king in Isra’el; a man simply did whatever he thought was right.
Judges 21
Easy-to-Read Version
Getting Wives for the Men of Benjamin
21 At Mizpah, the men of Israel made a promise. This was their promise: “Not one of us will let his daughter marry a man from the tribe of Benjamin.”
2 The Israelites went to the city of Bethel. There they sat before God until evening. They cried loudly as they sat there. 3 They said to God, “Lord, you are the God of the Israelites. Why has this terrible thing happened to us? Why has one tribe of the Israelites been taken away?”
4 Early the next day, the Israelites built an altar. They put burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to God on that altar. 5 Then the Israelites said, “Are there any tribes of Israel who did not come here to meet with us before the Lord?” They asked this question because they had made a serious promise. They had promised that anyone who did not come together with the other tribes at the city of Mizpah would be killed.
6 Then the Israelites felt sorry for their relatives, the people of Benjamin. They said, “Today, one tribe has been separated from Israel. 7 We made a promise with an oath before the Lord. We promised not to allow our daughters to marry a man from Benjamin. How can we make sure that the men of Benjamin will have wives?”
8 Then the Israelites asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel did not come here to Mizpah? We have come together before the Lord. Surely one family was not here!” Then they found that no one from the city of Jabesh Gilead had met together with the other Israelites. 9 The Israelites counted everyone to see who was there and who was not. They found that no one from Jabesh Gilead was there. 10 So the Israelites sent 12,000 soldiers to the city of Jabesh Gilead. They told the soldiers, “Go to Jabesh Gilead, and use your swords to kill everyone who lives there, even the women and children. 11 You must do this! You must kill every man in Jabesh Gilead and every woman who has had sexual relations with a man. But do not kill any woman who has never had sex with a man.” So the soldiers did these things.[a] 12 The 12,000 soldiers found 400 young women in the city of Jabesh Gilead who had never had sex with a man. They brought these women to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
13 Then the Israelites sent a message to the men of Benjamin. They offered to make peace with the men of Benjamin. The men of Benjamin were at the place named the Rock of Rimmon. 14 So the men of Benjamin came back to Israel. The Israelites gave them the women from Jabesh Gilead who they had not killed. But there were not enough women for all the men of Benjamin.
15 The Israelites felt sorry for the men of Benjamin. They felt sorry for them because the Lord had separated them from the other tribes of Israel. 16 The elders of the Israelites said, “The women of the tribe of Benjamin have been killed. Where can we get wives for the men of Benjamin who are still alive? 17 The men of Benjamin who are still alive must have children to continue their families. This must be done so that a tribe in Israel will not die out! 18 But we cannot allow our daughters to marry the men of Benjamin. We have made this promise: ‘Bad things will happen to anyone who gives a wife to a man of Benjamin.’ 19 We have an idea! This is the time for the festival of the Lord at the city of Shiloh. This festival is celebrated every year there.” (The city of Shiloh is north of the city of Bethel and east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem. And it is also to the south of the city of Lebonah.)
20 So the elders told the men of Benjamin about their idea. They said, “Go and hide in the vineyards. 21 Watch for the time during the festival when the young women from Shiloh come out to join the dancing. Then run out from where you are hiding in the vineyards. Each of you should take one of the young women from the city of Shiloh. Take them to the land of Benjamin and marry them. 22 The fathers or brothers of the young women will come and complain to us. But we will say, ‘Be kind to the men of Benjamin. Let them marry the women. We could not get wives for each of them during the war. And you did not willingly give the women to the men of Benjamin, so you did not break your promise.’”
23 So that is what the men of the tribe of Benjamin did. While the young women were dancing, each man caught one of them. They took them away and married them. Then they went back to their land. The men of Benjamin built cities again in that land, and they lived in them. 24 Then the Israelites went home. They went to their own land and tribe.
25 In those days the Israelites did not have a king, so everyone did whatever they thought was right.
Footnotes
- Judges 21:11 But do not kill … these things This is from the ancient Greek version.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International