Liber Iudicum

Iudicum, chapter 21, Vulgate and King James Version

Chapter 21 Vulgate

   1 Iuraverunt autem filii Israel in Maspha et dixerunt: "Nullus nostrum dabit filiis Beniamin de filiabus suis uxorem"
   2 Venitque populus in Bethel, et in conspectu Dei sedentes usque ad vesperam levaverunt vocem et magno ululatu coeperunt flere dicentes:
   3 "Quare, Domine, Deus Israel, factum est hoc in populo tuo, ut hodie una tribus auferretur de Israel?"
   4 Altera autem die diluculo consurgentes exstruxerunt altare obtuleruntque ibi holocausta et pacificas victimas
   5 et dixerunt: "Quis non ascendit in congregationem ad Dominum de universis tribubus Israel?" Grandi enim se iuramento constrinxerant interfici eos, qui non ascendissent ad Dominum in Maspha.
   6 Ductique paenitentia filii Israel super fratre suo Beniamin coeperunt dicere: "Ablata est hodie una tribus de Israel.
   7 Quid faciemus, ut, qui remanserunt, uxores accipiant? Omnes enim in commune iuravimus per Dominum non daturos nos his filias nostras"
   8 Idcirco dixerunt: "Quis est de universis tribubus Israel, qui non ascendit ad Dominum in Maspha?" Et ecce nemo de Iabes Galaad in castra venerat ad congregationem,
   9 et, cum populus recenseretur, nullus ex eis repertus est.
   10 Misit itaque coetus decem milia viros robustissimos et praeceperunt eis: "Ite et percutite habitatores Iabes Galaad in ore gladii tam uxores quam parvulos eorum.
   11 Et hoc erit, quod observare debetis: Omne generis masculini et mulieres, quae cognoverunt viros, interficite; virgines autem reservate"
   12 Inventaeque sunt de Iabes Galaad quadringentae virgines, quae nescierunt viri torum, et adduxerunt eas in castra in Silo in terra Chanaan.
   13 Misitque coetus nuntios ad filios Beniamin, qui erant in petra Remmon, et dederunt eis pacem.
   14 Veneruntque filii Beniamin in illo tempore, et datae sunt eis uxores de filiabus Iabes Galaad; alias autem non reppererunt, quas simili modo traderent.
   15 Populusque valde doluit de Beniamin, quia fecerat Dominus confractionem in tribubus Israel.
   16 Dixeruntque seniores coetus: "Quid faciemus reliquis, qui non acceperunt uxores? Omnes in Beniamin feminae conciderunt"
   17 Et dixerunt: "Possessio eorum, qui effugerunt, erit Beniamin, ne una tribus deleatur ex Israel.
   18 Filias autem nostras eis dare non possumus, constricti hoc iuramento: "Maledictus, qui dederit de filiabus suis uxorem Beniamin!" "
   19 Ceperuntque consilium atque dixerunt: "Ecce sollemnitas Domini est in Silo anniversaria, quae sita est ad septentrionem urbis Bethel et ad orientalem plagam viae, quae de Bethel tendit ad Sichimam et ad meridiem oppidi Lebona"
   20 Praeceperuntque filiis Beniamin atque dixerunt: "Ite et latitate in vineis;
   21 cumque videritis filias Silo ad ducendos choros ex more procedere, exite repente de vineis et rapite ex eis singuli uxores singulas et pergite in terram Beniamin"
   22 Cumque venerint patres earum ac fratres et apud nos queri coeperint, dicemus eis: "Miseremini nostri et eorum; non enim acceperunt unusquisque uxorem in bello, et vos, si dedissetis eis, deliquissetis"
   23 Feceruntque filii Beniamin, ut sibi fuerat imperatum, et iuxta numerum suum rapuerunt sibi de his, quae ducebant choros, uxores singulas; abieruntque in possessionem suam aedificantes urbes et habitantes in eis.
   24 Filii quoque Israel reversi sunt inde illo tempore unusquisque ad tribum et familiam suam in possessionem suam.
   25 In diebus illis non erat rex in Israel, sed unusquisque, quod sibi rectum videbatur, hoc faciebat.

Source: Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio, Sacrosanti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II, Ratione Habita, Iussu Pauli PP. VI Recognita, Auctoritate Ioannis Pauli PP. II Promulgata, Editio Typica Altera

King James Version

   1 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.
   2 And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore;
   3 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?
   4 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.
   5 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.
   6 And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.
   7 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?
   8 ¶ 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 Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.
   9 For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there.
   10 And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.
   11 And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.
   12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 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.
   13 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.
   14 And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not.
   15 And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
   16 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?
   17 And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.
   18 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.
   19 Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
   20 Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;
   21 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.
   22 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.
   23 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.
   24 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.
   25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.