Judges Chapter 21
The crew from Israel made a vow at Mizpeh, saying, "No cap, we ain’t giving our daughters to Benjamin for wives."
Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.
The squad rolled up to God's pad, vibing until evening, crying like, "This is brutal!"
And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore;
They were like, "Yo, Lord God of Israel, why is one tribe missing today? This is low-key sus."
And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel?
The next day, the homies got up early, set up an altar, and lit up some burnt offerings and peace vibes.
And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
The Israelites were like, "Who didn’t show up to the Lord at Mizpeh? We took a big oath that anyone who was MIA is toast."
And the children of Israel said, Who {is there} among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death.
They were feeling for their dude Benjamin, saying, "One tribe is totally cut off today."
And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.
They asked, "How we gonna snag wives for the ones left? We swore to the Lord no daughters for them."
How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?
They said, "Which tribe didn’t roll through to Mizpeh? No one from Jabesh–gilead came to the party."
And they said, What one {is there} of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly.
The people were counted, and guess what? No one from Jabesh–gilead showed up, fr.
For the people were numbered, and, behold, {there were} none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there.
The squad sent out 12,000 of the most savage warriors, telling them, "Go handle the people of Jabesh–gilead, women and kids included."
And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.
They were instructed, "You gotta eliminate every male and every woman who’s been with a dude."
And this {is} the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man. {hath lain...: Heb. knoweth the lying with man}
They found 400 young virgins in Jabesh–gilead who hadn't been with anyone and brought them to the camp in Shiloh, which is in Canaan.
And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which {is} in the land of Canaan. {young...: Heb. young women virgins}
The whole crew sent some to have a word with the Benjamin squad chilling at Rimmon rock, trying to keep it cool.
And the whole congregation sent {some} to speak to the children of Benjamin that {were} in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them. {to speak...: Heb. and spake and called} {call...: or, proclaim peace}
Benjamin came back, and they handed over the wives they saved from Jabesh–gilead, but it still wasn’t enough, fr.
And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead: and yet so they sufficed them not.
The people were feeling for Benjamin since the Lord had caused some serious division among the tribes of Israel.
And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
Then the elders were like, "How we gonna find wives for the ones left? All the women in Benjamin are wiped out."
Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?
They said, "We gotta make sure the ones who survived have an inheritance, so a tribe doesn’t vanish."
And they said, {There must be} an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.
But we can’t give them our daughters for wives, since the Israelites swore, "Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin."
Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed {be} he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.
Then they said, "Yo, there’s a yearly feast of the Lord in Shiloh, north of Beth–el, east of the highway from Beth–el to Shechem, and south of Lebonah."
Then they said, Behold, {there is} a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly {in a place} which {is} on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. {yearly: Heb. from year to year} {on the east...: or, toward the sunrising} {of the highway: or, on the highway}
So they told the Benjamin crew, "Go chill in the vineyards."
Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;
And check it, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance, then you guys pop out of the vineyards and grab yourselves wives from them.
And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
And when their dads or bros come to complain, we’ll be like, "Cut them some slack for our sake, we didn’t set them up with wives during the war, so don’t blame us."
And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, {that} ye should be guilty. {Be favourable...: or, Gratify us in them}
The Benjamin squad did just that, snagged wives from the dancers they caught, and headed back to their turf, fixing up their towns.
And the children of Benjamin did so, and took {them} wives, 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.
The Israelites bounced from there, each homie returning to their tribe and fam, claiming their piece of the inheritance.
And the children of Israel 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.
Back in the day, there was no king in Israel, so everyone just did what felt right to them.
In those days {there was} no king in Israel: every man did {that which was} right in his own eyes.