| English Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, “No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.” | 1The men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah: "None of us will give his daughter to a Benjaminite in marriage." |
| 2And the people came to Bethel and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. | 2So the people went to Bethel and sat there before God until evening. They wept loudly and bitterly, |
| 3And they said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel?” | 3and cried out, "Why, LORD God of Israel, has it occurred that one tribe is missing in Israel today?" |
| 4And the next day the people rose early and built there an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. | 4The next day the people got up early, built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. |
| 5And the people of Israel said, “Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the LORD?” For they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come up to the LORD to Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” | 5The Israelites asked, "Who of all the tribes of Israel didn't come to the LORD with the assembly?" For a great oath had been taken that anyone who had not come to the LORD at Mizpah would certainly be put to death. |
| 6And the people of Israel had compassion for Benjamin their brother and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel this day. | 6But the Israelites had compassion on their brothers, the Benjaminites, and said, "Today a tribe has been cut off from Israel. |
| 7What 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 for wives?” | 7What should we do about wives for the survivors? We've sworn to the LORD not to give them any of our daughters as wives." |
| 8And they said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to the LORD to Mizpah?” And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead, to the assembly. | 8They asked, "Which city among the tribes of Israel didn't come to the LORD at Mizpah?" It turned out that no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp and the assembly. |
| 9For when the people were mustered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there. | 9For when the people were counted, no one was there from the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead. |
| 10So the congregation sent 12,000 of their bravest men there and commanded them, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword; also the women and the little ones. | 10The congregation sent 12,000 brave warriors there and commanded them: "Go and kill the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the sword, including women and children. |
| 11This is what you shall do: every male and every woman that has lain with a male you shall devote to destruction.” | 11This is what you should do: Completely destroy every male, as well as every female who has slept with a man." |
| 12And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 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 Canaan. | 12They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young women, who had not had sexual relations with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan. |
| 13Then the whole congregation sent word to the people of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon and proclaimed peace to them. | 13The whole congregation sent a message of peace to the Benjaminites who were at the rock of Rimmon. |
| 14And Benjamin returned at that time. And they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead, but they were not enough for them. | 14Benjamin returned at that time, and Israel gave them the women they had kept alive from Jabesh-gilead. But there were not enough for them. |
| 15And the people had compassion on Benjamin because the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. | 15The people had compassion on Benjamin, because the LORD had made this gap in the tribes of Israel. |
| 16Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?” | 16The elders of the congregation said, "What should we do about wives for those who are left, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?" |
| 17And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel. | 17They said, "There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. |
| 18Yet we cannot give them wives from our daughters.” For the people of Israel had sworn, “Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.” | 18But we can't give them our daughters as wives." For the Israelites had sworn, "Anyone who gives a wife to a Benjaminite is cursed." |
| 19So they said, “Behold, there is the yearly feast of the LORD at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” | 19They also said, "Look, there's an annual festival to the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah." |
| 20And they commanded the people of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in ambush in the vineyards | 20Then they commanded the Benjaminites: "Go and hide in the vineyards. |
| 21and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. | 21Watch, and when you see the young women of Shiloh come out to perform the dances, each of you leave the vineyards and catch a wife for yourself from the young women of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. |
| 22And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Grant them graciously to us, because we did not take for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty.’” | 22When their fathers or brothers come to us and protest, we will tell them, 'Show favor to them, since we did not get enough wives for each of them in the battle. You didn't actually give the women to them, so you are not guilty of breaking your oath.'" |
| 23And the people of Benjamin did so and took their wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and lived in them. | 23The Benjaminites did this and took the number of women they needed from the dancers they caught. They went back to their own inheritance, rebuilt their cities, and lived in them. |
| 24And the people of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance. | 24At that time, each of the Israelites returned from there to his own tribe and family. Each returned from there to his own inheritance. |
| 25In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. | 25In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever he wanted. |
|
