The children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off: and they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and lived in them.
Judges 21:20-22 record the Israelites’ command to the assailants (cf. Judges 21:10-11). The fathers and brothers of the women would complain because of the treatment these women would receive and because these men would not receive dowries from their sons-in-law as was customary. The Israelites also expected these fathers and brothers to find some consolation in the fact that they had not technically broken the "wife oath."