The Israelites swore in Mizpah that we will not give our daughters to Benjamin as wives.

The Israelites came to Bethel and sat before God until evening, crying loudly and bitterly,

And he said, O Lord, the God of Israel, why is there such a lack of a tribe in Israel?

The next morning, the people got up and built an altar there, offering burnt offerings and peace offerings.

The Israelites asked each other, “Who among the tribes of Israel has not come up to the Lord with the assembly?”? First, the Israelites made a great oath, saying, Whoever does not come to Mizpah before the Lord will be put to death.

The Israelites regretted their brother Benjamin and said, “Now there is one tribe cut off from Israel.”.

What should we do now, that we have sworn before the Lord not to give our daughters to Benjamin as wives?

And they asked one another, Who among the tribes of Israel did not come up to Mizpah before the Lord? They found out that no one from Kiriath Jabesh entered the camp to the assembly.

Because when the people were numbered, there was not a single person from Jabesh Gilead there.

And the congregation sent twelve thousand strong warriors, and commanded them, saying, Go and slay the people of Kiriath Jabesh, even women and children, with the sword.

This is what is to be done: slaughter all men and married women.

They met four hundred unmarried virgins among the people of Jabesh Gilead and brought them to the camp of Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

The whole assembly sent messengers to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon, saying peace to them.

At that time, when the Benjamin people returned, the Israelites gave them the surviving daughters of Kiriath Jabesh as wives, but it was not enough.

The people regretted for the people of Benjamin, because the Lord had caused Israel to lack a tribe.

The elders in the assembly said, “Since the women in Benjamin have been destroyed, what should we do to make the remaining ones have wives?”?

And he said, Let those who escape from Benjamin have their inheritance, so that no tribe may be wiped out of Israel.

We just can’t give our daughters to them as wives. For the Israelites have sworn that anyone who gives their daughter to Benjamin as a wife will be cursed.

They also said, There is a festival of the Lord every year in Shiloh, south of Libonah and north of Bethel, east of the Great Shechem Road.

And he commanded the people of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in ambush in the vineyard.

If you see the women of Shiloh coming out to dance, then come out of the vineyard and take one from each of the women of Shiloh as his wife, and return to the land of Benjamin.

If their father or brothers come to compete with us, we will say, ‘Please consider our situation and show kindness to these people, because we did not leave a woman as a wife for them during the war.’. This is not what you gave women to them. If you give it, it will be considered guilty.

So the people of Benjamin did the same, taking wives from the dancing women according to their numbers, and returning to their own land, they rebuilt the cities to live in.

At that time, the Israelites left and returned to their own tribes, clans, and territories.

At that time, there was no king in Israel, and everyone did as they pleased.