Judges 21:1-12 ▼

1 NOW the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpeh, saying, None of us shall give his daughter in marriage to the Benjamites.

2 And the people came to Beth-el, and abode there till evening before God, and lifted up their voices and wept bitterly;

3 And said, O LORD God of Israel, why has this disaster come to pass in Israel, that there should be today one tribe missing from Israel?

4 And on the morrow the people rose early and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

5 And the children of Israel said. Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that did not come up in the assembly before the LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him who did not come up to Mizpeh before the LORD, saying, He shall surely be put to death.

6 Then the children of Israel were sorry for the Benjamites their brethren, and said, One tribe has disappeared from Israel this day.

7 And they said, What shall we do for those who are left without wives, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them our daughters to wife?

8 And they said, Which one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to Mizpeh before the LORD? And, behold, there had come none to the camp from the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.

9 For the people were numbered there, and behold, not one man of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was found there.

10 And the people sent thither twelve thousand of the bravest men, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and the children.

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

12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins that had known no man by lying with him; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.