Parallel Bible results for "judges 21"

Judges 21

The Complete Jewish Bible CJB

1 The men of Isra'el had sworn in Mitzpah that none of them would let his daughter marry a man from Binyamin.

2 The people came to Beit-El and stayed there before God till evening crying out and weeping.

3 They said: "ADONAI, why has this come about in Isra'el? Why should there be today in Isra'el one tribe missing?"

4 The next day the people got up early, built an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

5 The people of Isra'el asked, "Who among the tribes of Isra'el did not come up to assemble before ADONAI? For they had made a great oath to put to death whoever didn't come up to ADONAI at Mitzpah.

6 The people of Isra'el became sorry for Binyamin their brother and said, "Today one tribe has been cut off from Isra'el.

7 How are we going to obtain wives for those who remain alive, since we've sworn by ADONAI that we won't let our daughters marry them?"

8 Then they asked who from the tribes of Isra'el had not come up to ADONAI at Mitzpah and found that none had come from Yavesh-Gil'ad to the camp where the assembly was;

9 since when the people were counted, none of the inhabitants of Yavesh-Gil'ad were found there.

10 So the gathering sent 12,000 warriors there and ordered them, "Go, and put the people who live in Yavesh-Gil'ad to death with the sword, including women and children.

11 Completely destroy every man and every woman who has had sex with a man."

12 Among the inhabitants of Yavesh-Gil'ad they found 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Kena'an.

13 Then the whole gathering sent a message proclaiming peace to the people of Binyamin who were at the Rock of Rimmon.

14 So Binyamin returned at that time, and the people of Isra'el gave them the women they had kept alive of the women from Yavesh-Gil'ad. But those weren't enough for them.

15 The people were still sorry for Binyamin because ADONAI had made a division among the tribes of Isra'el.

16 The leaders of the assembly asked, "What are we to do for those who still don't have wives, inasmuch as all the women of Binyamin have been killed?"

17 They said, "There has to be a way to help the survivors preserve Binyamin's inheritance, so that a tribe will not be eliminated from Isra'el.

18 Yet we can't give them our daughters as wives." For the people of Isra'el had sworn, "Cursed be whoever gives a wife to Binyamin."

19 Then they said, "Look, each year there's a festival in honor of ADONAI in Shiloh, north of Beit-El, on the east side of the road that goes up from Beit-El to Sh'khem, and south of Levonah."

20 They ordered the men of Binyamin, "Go, hide in the vineyards,

21 and keep watch. If the girls of Shiloh come out to do their dances, then come out of the vineyards, and each of you catch for himself a wife from the Shiloh girls, and go on to the land of Binyamin.

22 When their fathers or brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, 'Give them as a personal favor to us, because we didn't take wives for each of them in battle. You didn't give them to them; that would have made you guilty of breaking your oath.'"

23 So the men of Binyamin did this - they took wives for themselves from the girls who were dancing, as many as they needed. They carried them off, went back to the land of their inheritance, rebuilt the cities and lived in them.

24 The people of Isra'el then left that place, each man returned to his tribe and family, and each man went out from there to the land he had inherited.

25 At that time there was no king in Isra'el; a man simply did whatever he thought was right.

New Living Translation NLT

1 The Israelites had vowed at Mizpah, “We will never give our daughters in marriage to a man from the tribe of Benjamin.”

2 Now the people went to Bethel and sat in the presence of God until evening, weeping loudly and bitterly.

3 “O LORD, God of Israel,” they cried out, “why has this happened in Israel? Now one of our tribes is missing from Israel!”

4 Early the next morning the people built an altar and presented their burnt offerings and peace offerings on it.

5 Then they said, “Who among the tribes of Israel did not join us at Mizpah when we held our assembly in the presence of the LORD ?” At that time they had taken a solemn oath in the LORD ’s presence, vowing that anyone who refused to come would be put to death.

6 The Israelites felt sorry for their brother Benjamin and said, “Today one of the tribes of Israel has been cut off.

7 How can we find wives for the few who remain, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them our daughters in marriage?”

8 So 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.

9 For after they counted all the people, no one from Jabesh-gilead was present.

10 So the assembly sent 12,000 of their best warriors to Jabesh-gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children.

11 “This is what you are to do,” they said. “Completely destroy all the males and every woman who is not a virgin.”

12 Among the residents of Jabesh-gilead they found 400 young virgins who had never slept with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

13 The Israelite assembly sent a peace delegation to the remaining people of Benjamin who were living at the rock of Rimmon.

14 Then the men of Benjamin returned to their homes, and the 400 women of Jabesh-gilead who had been spared were given to them as wives. But there were not enough women for all of them.

15 The people felt sorry for Benjamin because the LORD had made this gap among the tribes of Israel.

16 So the elders of the assembly asked, “How can we find wives for the few who remain, since the women of the tribe of Benjamin are dead?

17 There must be heirs for the survivors so that an entire tribe of Israel is not wiped out.

18 But we cannot give them our own daughters in marriage because we have sworn with a solemn oath that anyone who does this will fall under God’s curse.”

19 Then 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.

20 They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, “Go and hide in the vineyards.

21 When you see the young women of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to the land of Benjamin to be your wife!

22 And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, ‘Please be sympathetic. Let them have your daughters, for we didn’t find wives for all of them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not actually give your daughters to them in marriage.’”

23 So 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.

24 Then the people of Israel departed by tribes and families, and they returned to their own homes.

25 In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.