Judges 21:16-18

New International Reader's Version

¹⁶ The elders of the community spoke up. They said, “All the women of Benjamin have been wiped out. So how will we find wives for the men who are left? ¹⁷ The men of Benjamin who are still alive need to have children,” they said. “If they don’t, a tribe of Israel will be wiped out. ¹⁸ But we can’t give them our daughters to be their wives. We Israelites have made a promise. We’ve said, ‘May anyone who gives a wife to a man from Benjamin be under the Lord’s curse.’