Judges 21:1-25, NLT
Judges 21
Israel Provides Wives for Benjamin
1The Israelites had vowed at Mizpah, “We will never give our daughters in marriage to a man from the tribe of Benjamin.”
4Early the next morning the people built an altar and presented their burnt offerings and peace offerings on it.
6The Israelites felt sorry for their brother Benjamin and said, “Today one of the tribes of Israel has been cut off.
8So they asked, “Who among the tribes of Israel did not join us at Mizpah when we assembled in the presence of the Lord?” And they discovered that no one from Jabesh-gilead had attended the assembly.
10So the assembly sent 12,000 of their best warriors to Jabesh-gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children.
13The Israelite assembly sent a peace delegation to the remaining people of Benjamin who were living at the rock of Rimmon.
15The people felt sorry for Benjamin because the Lord had made this gap among the tribes of Israel.
19Then they thought of the annual festival of the Lord held in Shiloh, south of Lebonah and north of Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem.
23So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. Each man caught one of the women as she danced in the celebration and carried her off to be his wife. They returned to their own land, and they rebuilt their towns and lived in them.
24Then the people of Israel departed by tribes and families, and they returned to their own homes.
25In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.