1 At Mizpah the men of Israel had made a promise. This was their promise: “Not one of us will let his daughter marry a man from the tribe of Benjamin.”
2 The people went to the city of Bethel. There they sat before God until evening, crying loudly.
3 They said, “Lord, you are the God of Israel. Why has this terrible thing happened to us? Why has one tribe of Israel been taken away?”
4 Early the next day the people built an altar. They put burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to God on it.