And a man of Yisra'el swore in the Mitspeh saying, 'No man among us will give his daughter to Binyamin as a wife.'

And the people came to Beit-El and sat there until evening before the Elohim, and they lifted up their voices and wept a great weeping.

And they said, 'Why, יהוה Elohim of Yisra'el, has this happened in Yisra'el, that one tribe is missing from Yisra'el today?'

And it happened the next day, and the people got up early and built there an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

And the sons of Yisra'el said, 'Who among all the tribes of Yisra'el did not come up to the assembly to יהוה?' For a great oath had been made to him who did not come up to יהוה in the Mitspeh, saying, 'He shall surely be put to death.'

And the sons of Yisra'el relented concerning Binyamin their brother, and said, 'One tribe has been cut off from Yisra'el today.'

'What shall we do for them who remain, for wives, since we swore by יהוה not to give them any of our daughters as wives?'

And they said, 'Who is there from the tribes of Yisra'el who did not come up to יהוה in the Mitspeh?' And behold, no man came to the camp from Yavesh Gil'ad to the assembly.

And the people were counted, and behold, there was no man there from the inhabitants of Yavesh Gil'ad.

And the community sent twelve thousand men from the valiant ones there, and commanded them, saying, 'Go and strike the inhabitants of Yavesh Gil'ad with the edge of the sword, and the women and the little ones.'

'And this is the matter that you shall do: every male and every woman who has known the lying with a male, you shall utterly destroy.'

And they found from the inhabitants of Yavesh Gil'ad four hundred young women, virgins, who had not known a man for lying with a male, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Kena'an.

And the whole community sent and spoke to the sons of Binyamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and called to them for peace.

And Binyamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had preserved from the women of Yavesh Gil'ad, and yet they did not find enough for them.

And the people relented concerning Binyamin, because יהוה had made a breach in the tribes of Yisra'el.

And the elders of the community said, 'What shall we do for those who remain, for wives, since a woman has been destroyed from Binyamin?'

'And there must be an inheritance of survivors for Binyamin, so that a tribe may not be blotted out from Yisra'el.'

'And we cannot give them wives from our daughters, because the sons of Yisra'el had sworn, saying, 'Cursed is he who gives a wife to Binyamin!''

And they said, 'Behold, there is a feast of יהוה in Shiloh, from day to day, which is north of Beit-El, east of the highway that goes up from Beit-El to Shkhem, and south of Levonah.'

And they commanded the sons of Binyamin, saying, 'Go and lie in wait in the vineyards.'

'And watch, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then you shall come out from the vineyards and each of you shall snatch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh, and you shall go to the land of Binyamin.'

'And it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to argue with us, we will say to them, 'Show them favor, for we did not take a wife for each man in the battle, for it was not you who gave them to them at this time; you are therefore guilty.''

And the sons of Binyamin did so, and took wives according to their number from the dancing women whom they had plundered, and they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities and lived in them.

And from there the sons of Yisra'el went out at that time, each to his tribe and to his family, and from there each went out to his inheritance.

In those days there was no king in Yisra'el; each man did what was right in his own eyes.