In context
13Then the whole community sent word to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon, offering them peace. 14So the Benjamites returned at that time, and the Israelites gave them the women of Jabesh-gilead they had spared, but there were not enough for all of them. 15The people grieved for Benjamin, because Yahweh had made a gap in the tribes of Israel. 16The elders of the community said, “What can we do to provide wives for the rest, since the women of Benjamin have been wiped out?” 17Then they said, “The survivors of Benjamin must have heirs, so that a tribe of Israel is not blotted out.
