1. Now the Ish Yisroel had taken an oath in Mitzpah, saying, There shall not any of us give his bat unto Binyamin as isha.
2. And HaAm went to Beit-El, and abode there till erev before HaElohim, and lifted up their voices, and wept gadol;
3. And said, Hashem Elohei Yisroel, why is this come to pass in Yisroel, that there should be today shevet echad lacking in Yisroel?
4. And it came to pass on the next day, that HaAm rose early, and built there a Mizbe'ach, and offered olot and shelamim.
5. And the Bnei Yisroel said, Who is there among kol Shivtei Yisroel that came not up with the Kahal unto Hashem? For they had made the shevuah hagedolah concerning him that came not up before Hashem to Mitzpah, saying, He shall surely be put to death.
6. And the Bnei Yisroel had compassion for Binyamin their brother, and said, There is shevet echad cut off from Yisroel this day.
7. How shall we do for nashim for them that remain, seeing we have taken an oath by Hashem that we will not give them of our banot as nashim?
8. And they said, What one is there of the Shivtei Yisroel that came not up to Mitzpah to Hashem? And, hinei, there came none to the machaneh from Yavesh-Gilead to the Kahal.
9. For HaAm were numbered, and, hinei, there were none of the inhabitants of Yavesh-Gilead there.
10. And HaEdah sent thither 12,000 ish of the Bnei HeChayil, and commanded them, saying, Go and strike the inhabitants of Yavesh-Gilead with the edge of the cherev, with the women and the children.
11. And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every zakhar, and every isha that hath da'as of lying with man.
12. And they found among the inhabitants of Yavesh-Gilead four hundred na'arah betulah, that had known no man by lying with any zakhar; and they brought them unto the machaneh at Shiloh, which is in Eretz Kena'an.