World English Bible
"However we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, 'Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.'""
— Judges 21:18, World English Bible
“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.”
“Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. ”
“But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, for the Israelites took an oath, saying,‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’”
“For as to our own daughters we cannot give them, being bound with an oath and a curse, whereby we said: Cursed be he that shall give Benjamin any of his daughters to wife.”
“Seeing that we may not give them our daughters as wives? For the children of Israel had taken an oath, saying, Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.”
“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.”
The people grieved for Benjamin, because that Yahweh had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
Then the elders of the congregation said, "How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?"
They said, "There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel.
However we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, 'Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.'"
They said, "Behold, there is a feast of Yahweh from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah."
They commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,
and see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards, and each man catch his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.