The Book of Judges

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- Chapter 19 -

(Genesis 19:1–11)

At that time the Israelite people had no king. There was a man from the tribe of Levi who lived in a remote place in the hill country where the tribe of Ephraim lives. He had previously taken to live with him a woman who was a slave. She was from Bethlehem, in the area where the tribe of Judah lives.

But she started to sleep with other men also. Then she left him and returned to her father’s house in Bethlehem. She stayed there for four months.

Then her husband took his servant and two donkeys and went to Bethlehem. He went to ask her to come back to live with him again. When he arrived at her father’s house, she invited him to come in. Her father was happy to see him.

The woman’s father asked him to stay. So he stayed there for three days. During that time he ate and drank and slept there.

On the fourth day, they all got up early in the morning. The man from the tribe of Levi was preparing to leave, but the woman’s father said to him, “Eat something before you go.”

So the two men sat down to eat and drink together. Then the woman’s father said to him, “Please stay another night. Relax and have a good time.”

The man from the tribe of Levi wanted to leave, but the woman’s father requested him to stay one more night. So he stayed again that night.

On the fifth day, the man got up early and prepared to leave. But the woman’s father said to him again, “Have something to eat. Wait until this afternoon, and then leave.” So the two men ate together.

In the afternoon, when the man from the tribe of Levi and his slave wife and his servant got up to leave, the woman’s father said, “It will soon be dark. The day is almost finished. Stay here tonight and have a good time. Tomorrow morning you can get up early and leave for your home.”

But the man from the tribe of Levi did not want to stay for another night. He put saddles on his two donkeys, and started to go with his slave wife and his servant toward the city of Jebus, which is now named Jerusalem.

When it was late in the afternoon, they came near to Jebus. The servant said to his master, “We should stop in this city where the Jebus people group live, and stay here tonight.”

But his master said, “No, it would not be good for us to stay here where foreign people live. There are no Israelite people here. We will go on to the city of Gibeah.”

He said to his servant, “Let us go. It is not far to Gibeah. We can go there, or we can go a bit further to Ramah. We can stay in one of those two cities tonight.”

So they continued walking. When they came near to Gibeah, where people from the tribe of Benjamin live, the sun was setting.

They stopped to stay there that night. They went to the public square of that city and sat down. But no one who passed by invited them to stay in their house for that night.

But then an old man came by. He had been working in the fields. He was from the hill country of the tribe of Ephraim, but at that time he was living in Gibeah.

He realized that the man from the tribe of Levi was only traveling and that he did not have a place to stay in that city. So he asked the man, “Where have you come from? And where are you going?”

He replied, “We are traveling from Bethlehem to my home in the hill country where people of the tribe of Ephraim live. I went from there to Bethlehem, but now we are going to Shiloh where Yahweh’s house is. No one here has invited us to stay in their house tonight.

We have straw and food for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me and the young woman and my servant. We do not need anything else.”

The old man said, “May everything go well for you. I can provide whatever you need. Do not stay here in the square tonight.”

Then the old man took them to his house. He gave food to the donkeys. He gave water to the man and the woman and the servant to wash their feet. And the old man gave them something to eat and drink.

While they were having a good time together, some wicked men from that city surrounded the house and started to bang on the door. They shouted to the old man, “Bring out to us the man who has come to your house. We want to have sex with him.”

The old man went outside and said to them, “My brothers, I will not do that. That would be a very evil thing. This man is a guest in my house. You should not do such a terrible thing!

Look, my virgin daughter and his concubine are here. I will bring them out to you now. You may do to them whatever you wish, but do not do such a terrible thing to this man!”

But the men did not pay attention to what he said. So the man took his concubine and sent her to them, outside the house. They forced her to have sex with them and abused her all night. Then at dawn, they let her go.

She returned to the old man’s house, and she fell down at the doorway and lay there until it was light.

The next morning, her master got up and went outside of the house to continue his journey. He saw his slave wife lying there at the doorway of the house, her hands still touching the doorsill.

He said to her, “Get up! Let us go!” But she did not answer. He put her body on the donkey, and he and his servant traveled to his home.

When he arrived at his home, he took a knife and he cut the body of the slave woman into twelve pieces. Then he sent one piece to each area of Israel, along with a message telling what had happened.

Everyone who saw a piece of the body and the message said, “Nothing like this has ever happened before. Not since our ancestors left Egypt have we heard of such a terrible thing. We need to think carefully about it. Someone should decide what we should do.”

(Genesis 19:1–11)

In those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite living on the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim, who took for himself a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah.

His concubine played the prostitute against him, and went away from him to her father’s house to Bethlehem Judah, and was there for four months.

Her husband arose and went after her to speak kindly to her, to bring her again, having his servant with him and a couple of donkeys. She brought him into her father’s house; and when the father of the young lady saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.

His father-in-law, the young lady’s father, kept him there; and he stayed with him three days. So they ate and drank, and stayed there.

On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning, and he rose up to depart. The young lady’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward you shall go your way.”

So they sat down, ate, and drank, both of them together. Then the young lady’s father said to the man, “Please be pleased to stay all night, and let your heart be merry.”

The man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged him, and he stayed there again.

He arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart; and the young lady’s father said, “Please strengthen your heart and stay until the day declines;” and they both ate.

When the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the young lady’s father, said to him, “Behold, now the day draws toward evening, please stay all night. Behold, the day is ending. Stay here, that your heart may be merry; and tomorrow go on your way early, that you may go home.”

But the man wouldn’t stay that night, but he rose up and went near Jebus (also called Jerusalem). With him were a couple of saddled donkeys. His concubine also was with him.

When they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, “Please come and let’s enter into this city of the Jebusites, and stay in it.”

His master said to him, “We won’t enter into the city of a foreigner that is not of the children of Israel; but we will pass over to Gibeah.”

He said to his servant, “Come and let’s draw near to one of these places; and we will lodge in Gibeah, or in Ramah.”

So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.

They went over there, to go in to stay in Gibeah. He went in, and sat down in the street of the city; for there was no one who took them into his house to stay.

Behold, an old man came from his work out of the field at evening. Now the man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites.

He lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”

He said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem Judah to the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem Judah. I am going to the LORD’s house; and there is no one who has taken me into his house.

Yet there is both straw and feed for our donkeys; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your servant, and for the young man who is with your servants. There is no lack of anything.”

The old man said, “Peace be to you! Just let me supply all your needs, but don’t sleep in the street.”

So he brought him into his house, and gave the donkeys fodder. Then they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain wicked fellows, surrounded the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we can have sex with him!”

The man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, “No, my brothers, please don’t act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, don’t do this folly.

Behold, here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them what seems good to you; but to this man don’t do any such folly.”

But the men wouldn’t listen to him; so the man grabbed his concubine, and brought her out to them; and they had sex with her, and abused her all night until the morning. When the day began to dawn, they let her go.

Then the woman came in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her lord was, until it was light.

Her lord rose up in the morning and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and behold, the woman his concubine had fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold.

He said to her, “Get up, and let’s get going!” but no one answered. Then he took her up on the donkey; and the man rose up, and went to his place.

When he had come into his house, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel.

It was so, that all who saw it said, “Such a deed has not been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day! Consider it, take counsel, and speak.”