Book 07 : NEVIIM - JUDGES - Chapter 021
21:001
Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying: 'There
shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.
21:002
And the people came to Beth-el, and sat there till even
before G-d, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore
21:003
And they said: 'O HaShem, the G-d of Israel, why is this
come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in
Israel?
21:004
And it came to pass on the morrow that the people rose
early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt-offerings and
peace-offerings
21:005
And the children of Israel said: 'Who is there among all
the tribes of Israel that came not up in the assembly unto HaShem?' For they had
made a great oath concerning him that came not up unto HaShem to Mizpah, saying:
'He shall surely be put to death.
21:006
And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their
brother, and said: 'There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day
21:007
How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we
have sworn by HaShem that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?
21:008
And they said: 'What one is there of the tribes of Israel
that came not up unto HaShem to Mizpah?' And, behold, there came none to the
camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly
21:009
For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none
of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there
21:010
And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of
the valiantest, and commanded them, saying: 'Go and smite the inhabitants of
Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones
21:011
And this is the thing that ye shall do: ye shall utterly
destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.
21:012
And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four
hundred young virgins, that had not known man by lying with him; and they
brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan
21:013
And the whole congregation sent and spoke to the children
of Benjamin that were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace unto them
21:014
And Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the
women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead; and yet so they
sufficed them not
21:015
And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that
HaShem had made a breach in the tribes of Israel
21:016
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?
21:017
And they said: 'They that are escaped must be as an
inheritance for Benjamin, that a tribe be not blotted out from Israel
21:018
Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters.' For
the children of Israel had sworn, saying: 'Cursed be he that giveth a wife to
Benjamin.
21:019
And they said: 'Behold, there is the feast of HaShem from
year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Beth-el, on the east side of
the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
21:020
And they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying: 'Go
and lie in wait in the vineyards
21:021
and see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out
to dance in the dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every
man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin
21:022
And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come
to strive with us, that we will say unto them: Grant them graciously unto us;
because we took not for each man of them his wife in battle; neither did ye give
them unto them, that ye should now be guilty.
21:023
And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives,
according to their number, of them that danced, whom they carried off; and they
went and returned unto their inheritance, and built the cities, and dwelt in
them
21:024
And the children of Israel 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
21:025
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did
that which was right in his own eyes
Book 07 : NEVIIM - JUDGES - Chapter 021
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