NOW the men of Yashar'el had sworn in Mitspah, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Binyamiyn to be his woman.
And the people came to the house of Elohiym, and abode there till even before Elohiym, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore;
And said, O Yahuah Elohai of Yashar'el, why is this come to pass in Yashar'el, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Yashar'el?
And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered ascending smoke offerings and peace offerings.
And the children of Yashar'el said, Who is there among all the tribes of Yashar'el that came not up with the assembly unto El-Yahuah? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to El-Yahuah to Mitspah, saying, He shall surely be put to death.
And the children of Yashar'el repented them for Binyamiyn their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Yashar'el this day.
How shall we do for women for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by Yahuah that we will not give them of our daughters to women?
And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Yashar'el that came not up to Mitspah to El-Yahuah? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Yaveysh Gil'ad to the assembly.
For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Yaveysh Gil'ad there.
And the assembly sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Yaveysh Gil'ad with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.
And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that has lain by man.
And they found among the inhabitants of Yaveysh Gil`ad four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiyloh, which is in the land of Kena`an.
And the whole assembly sent some to speak to the children of Binyamiyn that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them.
And Binyamiyn came again at that time; and they gave them women which they had saved alive of the women of Yaveysh Gil'ad: and yet so they sufficed them not.
And the people repented them for Binyamiyn, because that Yahuah had made a breach in the tribes of Yashar'el.
Then the elders of the assembly said, How shall we do for women for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Binyamiyn?
And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Binyamiyn, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Yashar'el.
Howbeit we may not give them women of our daughters: for the children of Yashar'el have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that gives a woman to Binyamiyn.
Then they said, Behold, there is a Feast of Yahuah in Shiyloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Beyt-El, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beyt-El to Shekem, and on the south of Lebonah.
Therefore they commanded the children of Binyamiyn, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;
And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiyloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his woman of the daughters of Shiyloh, and go to the land of Binyamiyn.
And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favorable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his woman in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty.
And the children of Binyamiyn did so, and took them women, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.
And the children of Yashar'el departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.
In those days there was no king in Yashar'el: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.