When their fathers or brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Be generous with them for our sake, since we did not get wives for all of them in the war. And since you did not actually give the women to them, you are not guilty.’”
In context
20So they instructed the Benjamites: “Go and hide in the vineyards, 21and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to dance in the celebration, come out from the vineyards, and each of you seize a wife from among the young women of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22When their fathers or brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Be generous with them for our sake, since we did not get wives for all of them in the war. And since you did not actually give the women to them, you are not guilty.’” 23So that is what the Benjamites did. They took wives for each of them from among the dancers they carried off. Then they went back to their own inheritance, rebuilt their towns, and settled in them. 24At that time the Israelites also left that place, each to his own tribe and clan, each returning to his own inheritance.
