The Lord said, “Fight them.”

The next day, the Benjaminites once again killed many Israelites and won the battle. This time, the entire army went before the Lord at Bethel. They made sacrifices and cried out in anguish. They said, “Should we go up against Benjamin again, or should we stop?”

The Lord said, “Go and fight them. I’ll give you victory tomorrow.”

The Israelite army prepared to fight in the morning, but this time they hid some of their men behind the city. The Benjaminites came out to fight, and once again it seemed like they were winning. The Israelites pulled back and the Benjaminites ran after them. They shouted, “We always win every battle!”

Soon the city was unprotected. Those in hiding entered the city and totally destroyed it, killing everyone. When the army of Israel saw the smoke coming from the city, they turned and charged back into battle. The army of Benjamin also saw the smoke and knew they’d been tricked.

The Lord fought against Benjamin, and soon they were terrified and tried to run, but Israel had them surrounded. The only ones to survive were 600 men who hid in a fortress. Everyone else in the tribe was killed, and their cities destroyed.

Once it was over, the people of Israel realized what they had done. They went to Bethel and sat before the Lord. They sobbed and mourned. “Oh Lord God. What have we done? Now we’re missing one of our twelve tribes.”

They stayed before the Lord all day and made sacrifices. They said, “What can we do? We only have 600 men from Benjamin and all their women are dead.” They knew it was important that the tribe repopulate.

They couldn’t give them their daughters because of the oath they had taken. Suddenly they got an idea. “Was there a city that didn’t come to battle as they were commanded?”

One city had disobeyed the order to fight. So the army of Israel went and killed everyone there. The only exception was virgin women. When the battle was over, they had 400 virgins from that city.

Israel made peace with the 600 men in the fortress, and gave them the 400 women to be their wives. They still needed 200 women.

Then they had another idea. They said to the Benjaminites, “Shiloh has an annual festival. At one point, young women come dancing out of the city. Hide in the vineyard next to the road. When the time is right, each of you jump out and grab a wife for yourself. Take them back to your own land. Don’t worry about their fathers and brothers. They’ll complain to us, but we’ll explain the situation.”

So the Benjaminites hid in the vineyard next to the road. They waited until the young women came dancing out of Shiloh. At the right moment, they jumped up and grabbed wives for themselves.

The fathers and brothers of the women complained, but the men of Israel said, “Be kind and let them keep your daughters. They need wives, and we don’t have enough to give them. Don’t worry about the curse because you didn’t actually give them your daughters. They took them!”

The men of Benjamin went back to their cities and rebuilt them. They settled down with their new wives and raised families. Once again, all was peaceful in the land.