17
And they said, "There must be an inheritance for those who have escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.
18
However that be, we may not give them wives from our daughters; for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, `Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.'"
19
Then they said, "Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah."
20
Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,
21
and see. And behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards and catch you every man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
22
And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, `Be favorable unto them for our sakes, because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war; for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty.'"
23
And the children of Benjamin did so, and took for themselves wives according to their number from those who danced whom they caught; and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.
24
And the children of Israel departed from thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family; and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.
25
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.