17. These men must have children to continue their families so a tribe in Israel will not die out.
18. But we cannot allow our daughters to marry them, because we swore, ‘Anyone who gives a wife to a man of Benjamin is cursed.’
19. We have an idea! There is a yearly festival of the Lord at Shiloh, which is north of the city of Bethel, east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and south of the city of Lebonah.”
20. So the elders told the men of Benjamin, “Go and hide in the vineyards.
21. Watch for the young women from Shiloh to come out to join the dancing. Then run out from the vineyards and take one of the young Shiloh women and return to the land of Benjamin.
22. If their fathers or brothers come to us and complain, we will say: ‘Be kind to the men of Benjamin. We did not get wives for Benjamin during the war, and you did not give the women to the men from Benjamin. So you are not guilty.’ ”
23. So that is what the Benjaminites did. While the young women were dancing, each man caught one of them, took her away, and married her. Then they went back to the land God had given them and rebuilt their cities and lived there.
24. Then the Israelites went home to their own tribes and family groups, to their own land that God had given them.
25. In those days Israel did not have a king. All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.