6. The people of Israel felt sorry for their close relatives, the men of Benjamin. They said, “Today one tribe has been excluded from Israel.
7. What will we do to provide wives for the men who are left? We swore to the Lord that we would not let any of our daughters marry them.”
8. Then they asked, “Is there any family from Israel that did not come into the presence of the Lord at Mizpah?” No one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the assembly in the camp.
9. So they questioned the people, and there was no one there from Jabesh Gilead.
10. The congregation sent 12,000 soldiers. They ordered them, “Go and kill the people of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and children.
11. These are your directions: Claim every female who has gone to bed with a man, and claim every male. Claim them for the Lord by destroying them.”
12. Among the people of Jabesh Gilead they found 400 unmarried women who had never gone to bed with a man. They brought them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.
13. Then the whole congregation sent messengers to the men of Benjamin at Rimmon Rock and offered them peace.
14. So the men of Benjamin came back at that time. These men were given the women from Jabesh Gilead who had been kept alive. However, the congregation had not found enough women for all of them.
15. The congregation felt sorry for the people of Benjamin because the Lord had broken the unity of the tribes of Israel.
16. The leaders of the congregation asked, “What should we do to provide wives for the men who are left, since the women in Benjamin have been killed?”