15 Since the people had a change of heart concerning the Benjaminites because the Lord had caused a rupture in the tribes of Israel,
16 the community elders said, "What can we do to provide wives for the ones who are left, seeing that the Benjaminite women have been destroyed?
17 There must be a surviving line for those who remain from Benjamin," they continued, "so that a tribe won’t be erased from Israel.
18 But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, for we Israelites have made this pledge: ‘Let anyone who provides a wife for Benjamin be cursed!’
19 However," they said, "the annual festival of the Lord is under way in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah."
20 So they instructed the Benjaminites, "Go and hide like an ambush in the vineyards
21 and watch. At the moment the women of Shiloh come out to participate in the dances, rush out from the vineyards. Each one of you, capture a wife for yourself from the women of Shiloh and go back to the land of Benjamin.