New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Now the Israelites had sworn at Mizpah, "No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin."
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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 Bethel, and sat there until evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly.
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And the people came to Beth-el, waiting there till evening before God, and gave themselves up to bitter weeping.
3 They said, "O Lord, the God of Israel, why has it come to pass that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel?"
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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 On the next day, the people got up early, and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being.
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Then on the day after, the people got up early and made an altar there, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings.
5 Then the Israelites said, "Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the Lord?" For a solemn oath had been taken concerning whoever did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah, saying, "That one shall be put to death."
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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 But the Israelites had compassion for Benjamin their kin, and said, "One tribe is cut off from Israel this day.
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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 shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them any of our daughters as wives?"
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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 Then they said, "Is there anyone from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah?" It turned out that no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp, to the assembly.
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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 roll was called among the people, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there.
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For when the people were numbered, not one man of the people of Jabesh-gilead was present.
10 So the congregation sent twelve thousand soldiers there and commanded them, "Go, put the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead to the sword, including the women and the little ones.
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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 This is what you shall do; every male and every woman that has lain with a male you shall devote to destruction."
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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 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man and brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
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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 Then the whole congregation sent word to the Benjaminites who were at the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them.
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And all the meeting sent to the men of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, offering them peace.
14 Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead; but they did not suffice for them.
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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 The people had compassion on Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
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And the people were moved with pity for Benjamin, because the Lord had let his wrath loose on the tribes of Israel.
16 So the elders of the congregation said, "What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since there are no women left in Benjamin?"
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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, "There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, in order that a tribe may not be blotted out from Israel.
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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 Yet we cannot give any of our daughters to them as wives." For the Israelites had sworn, "Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin."
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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 So they said, "Look, the yearly festival of the Lord is taking place at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah."
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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 instructed the Benjaminites, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,
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And they said to the men of Benjamin, Go into the vine-gardens, waiting there secretly,
21 and watch; when the young women of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and each of you carry off a wife for himself from the young women of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
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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 Then if their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, "Be generous and allow us to have them; because we did not capture in battle a wife for each man. But neither did you incur guilt by giving your daughters to them.' "
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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 The Benjaminites did so; they took wives for each of them from the dancers whom they abducted. Then they went and returned to their territory, and rebuilt the towns, and lived in them.
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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 So the Israelites departed from there at that time by tribes and families, and they went out from there to their own territories.
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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; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.
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In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did what seemed right to him.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.