1 Now the children of Israel had also sworn in Maspha, saying: None of us shall give of his daughters to the children of Benjamin to wife.
2 And they all came to the house of God in Silo, and abiding before him till the evening, lifted up their voices, and began to lament and weep, saying:
3 O Lord God of Israel, why is so great an evil come to pass in thy people, that this day one tribe should be taken away from among us?
4 And rising early the next day, they built an altar: and offered there holocausts, and victims of peace, and they said: