Parallel Bible results for "judges 21"

Judges 21

The Bible in Basic English BBE

1 Now the men of Israel had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, Not one of us will give his daughter as a wife to Benjamin.

2 And the people came to Beth-el, waiting there till evening before God, and gave themselves up to bitter weeping.

3 And they said, O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this fate come on Israel, that today one tribe has been cut off from Israel?

4 Then on the day after, the people got up early and made an altar there, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings.

5 And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel, who did not come up to the Lord at the meeting of all Israel? For they had taken a great oath that whoever did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord was to be put to death.

6 And the children of Israel were moved with pity for Benjamin their brother, saying, Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel.

7 What are we to do about wives for those who are still living? For we have taken an oath by the Lord that we will not give them our daughters for wives.

8 And they said, Which one of the tribes of Israel did not come up to Mizpah to the Lord? And it was seen that no one had come from Jabesh-gilead to the meeting.

9 For when the people were numbered, not one man of the people of Jabesh-gilead was present.

10 So they (the meeting) sent twelve thousand of the best fighting-men, and gave them orders, saying, Go and put the people of Jabesh-gilead to the sword without mercy, with their women and their little ones.

11 And this is what you are to do: every male, and every woman who has had sex relations with a man, you are to put to the curse, but you are to keep safe the virgins. And they did so.

12 Now there were among the people of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had never had sex relations with a man; these they took to their tents in Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

13 And all the meeting sent to the men of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, offering them peace.

14 Then Benjamin came back; and they gave them the women whom they had kept from death among the women of Jabesh-gilead: but still there were not enough for them.

15 And the people were moved with pity for Benjamin, because the Lord had let his wrath loose on the tribes of Israel.

16 Then the responsible men of the meeting said, What are we to do about wives for the rest of them, seeing that the women of Benjamin are dead?

17 And they said, How is the rest of Benjamin to be given offspring so that one tribe of Israel may not be put out of existence,

18 Seeing that we may not give them our daughters as wives? For the children of Israel had taken an oath, saying, Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.

19 And they said, See, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is to the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway which goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

20 And they said to the men of Benjamin, Go into the vine-gardens, waiting there secretly,

21 And watching; and if the daughters of Shiloh come out to take part in the dances, then come from the vine-gardens and take a wife for every one of you from among the daughters of Shiloh, and go back to the land of Benjamin.

22 And when their fathers or their brothers come and make trouble, you are to say to them, Give them to us as an act of grace; for we did not take them as wives for ourselves in war; and if you yourselves had given them to us you would have been responsible for the broken oath.

23 So the men of Benjamin did this, and got wives for themselves for every one of their number, taking them away by force from the dance; then they went back to their heritage, building up their towns and living in them.

24 Then the children of Israel went away from there, every man to his tribe and his family, every man went back to his heritage.

25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did what seemed right to him.

Good News Translation GNT

1 When the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, they had made a solemn promise to the Lord: "None of us will allow a Benjaminite to marry a daughter of ours."

2 So now the people of Israel went to Bethel and sat there in the presence of God until evening. Loudly and bitterly they mourned:

3 "Lord God of Israel, why has this happened? Why is the tribe of Benjamin about to disappear from Israel?"

4 Early the next morning the people got up and built an altar there. They offered fellowship sacrifices and burned some sacrifices whole.

5 They asked, "Is there any group out of all the tribes of Israel that did not go to the gathering in the Lord's presence at Mizpah?" (They had taken a solemn oath that anyone who had not gone to Mizpah would be put to death.)

6 The people of Israel felt sorry for their brothers the Benjaminites and said, "Today Israel has lost one of its tribes.

7 What shall we do to provide wives for the men of Benjamin who are left? We have made a solemn promise to the Lord that we will not give them any of our daughters."

8 When they asked if there was some group out of the tribes of Israel that had not gone to the gathering at Mizpah, they found out that no one from Jabesh in Gilead had been there;

9 at the roll call of the army no one from Jabesh had responded.

10 So the assembly sent twelve thousand of their bravest men with the orders, "Go and kill everyone in Jabesh, including women and children.

11 Kill all the males, and also every woman who is not a virgin."

12 They found four hundred young virgins among the people in Jabesh, so they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

13 Then the whole assembly sent word to the Benjaminites who were at Rimmon Rock and offered to end the war.

14 The Benjaminites came back, and the other Israelites gave them the young women from Jabesh whom they had not killed. But there were not enough of them.

15 The people felt sorry for the Benjaminites because the Lord had broken the unity of the tribes of Israel.

16 So the leaders of the gathering said, "There are no more women in the tribe of Benjamin. What shall we do to provide wives for the men who are left?

17 Israel must not lose one of its twelve tribes. We must find a way for the tribe of Benjamin to survive,

18 but we cannot allow them to marry our daughters, because we have put a curse on anyone who allows a Benjaminite to marry one of our daughters."

19 Then they thought, "The yearly festival of the Lord at Shiloh is coming soon." (Shiloh is north of Bethel, south of Lebonah, and east of the road between Bethel and Shechem.)

20 They told the Benjaminites, "Go and hide in the vineyards

21 and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to dance during the festival, you come out of the vineyards. Each of you take a wife by force from among them and take her back to the territory of Benjamin with you.

22 If their fathers or brothers come to you and protest, you can tell them, "Please let us keep them, because we did not take them from you in battle to be our wives. And since you did not give them to us, you are not guilty of breaking your promise.' "

23 The Benjaminites did this; each of them chose a wife from the young women who were dancing at Shiloh and carried her away. Then they went back to their own territory, rebuilt their towns, and lived there.

24 At the same time the rest of the Israelites left, and every man went back to his own tribe and family and to his own property.

25 There was no king in Israel at that time. Everyone did whatever they pleased.