1. At Mizpah the men of Israel had made a promise. This was their promise: “Not one of us will let his daughter marry a man from the tribe of Benjamin.”
2. The people went to the city of Bethel. There they sat before God until evening, crying loudly.
3. They said, “Lord, you are the God of Israel. Why has this terrible thing happened to us? Why has one tribe of Israel been taken away?”
4. Early the next day the people built an altar. They put burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to God on it.
5. Then the Israelites asked, “Did any tribe of Israel not come here to meet with us before the Lord?” They asked this question because they had made a great promise. They had promised that anyone who did not meet with them at Mizpah would be killed.
6. The Israelites felt sorry for their relatives, the Benjaminites. They said, “Today one tribe has been separated from Israel.