8. When they asked if there was some group out of the tribes of Israel that had not gone to the gathering at Mizpah, they found out that no one from Jabesh in Gilead had been there;
9. at the roll call of the army no one from Jabesh had responded.
10. So the assembly sent 12,000 of their bravest men with the orders, “Go and kill everyone in Jabesh, including the women and children.
11. Kill all the males, and also every woman who is not a virgin.”
12. Among the people in Jabesh they found 400 young virgins, so they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13. Then the whole assembly sent word to the Benjaminites who were at the Rock of Rimmon and offered to end the war.
14. The Benjaminites came back, and the other Israelites gave them the girls from Jabesh whom they had not killed. But there were not enough of them.
15. The people felt sorry for the Benjaminites because the Lord had broken the unity of the tribes of Israel.
16. So the leaders of the gathering said, “There are no more women in the tribe of Benjamin. What shall we do to provide wives for the men who are left?
17. Israel must not lose one of its twelve tribes. We must find a way for the tribe of Benjamin to survive,
18. but we cannot allow them to marry our daughters, because we have put a curse on anyone of us who allows a Benjaminite to marry one of our daughters.”