¹⁶ The elders of the assembly said, “What can we do to find wives for those who are left? The Benjamite women were destroyed.” ¹⁷ They said, “There must be an inheritance for the remnant of Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be wiped out from Israel. ¹⁸ Yet we cannot give them our daughters for wives, for the children of Israel swore, ‘Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin.’ ”