²⁰ Therefore they instructed the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go, lie in wait in the vineyards, ²¹ and watch; and just when the daughters of Shiloh come out ^(A)to perform their dances, then come out from the vineyards, and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh; then go to the land of Benjamin. ²² Then it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, that we will say to them, ‘Be kind to them for our sakes, because we did not take a wife for any of them in the war; for it is not as though you have given the women to them at this time, making yourselves guilty of your oath.’ ”

²³ And the children of Benjamin did so; they took enough wives for their number from those who danced, whom they caught. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, and they ^(B)rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them.