Judges Chapter 19
Jud 18:27-31
A Levite and His Concubine
1 At that time, there wasn’t any king in Israel. A Levite was living in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim. He took a concubine from Bethlehem, Judah. 2 She got mad at him and went back to her father’s family in Bethlehem for four months. 3 Then her husband went after her to speak graciously to her and bring her back. He had a servant and a couple donkeys with him. SheLXX brought him to her father’s family. When her father saw him, he was glad to see him. 4 His father-in-law urged him to stay awhile, so he stayed three days. They ate and drank and lodged there. 5 On the fourth day, they got up early, and he got ready to go, but the girl’s father told him, “Strengthen yourself with some bread and after that you can go.” 6 The two men sat and ate and drank together. The girl’s father told him, “Spend the night and enjoy yourself.” 7 When he got up to go, his father-in-law urged him till he stayed there again. 8 On the fifth day, he got up early to leave, and the girl’s father said, “Strengthen yourself and wait till this afternoon.” So they ate together again. 9 When the man, his concubine, and his servant got up to leave, his father-in-law said, “It’s getting toward evening; stay here tonight and relax. You can get up early tomorrow for your trip home.” Jud 19:1-9
10 But he wouldn’t. He left and headed toward Jebus (Jerusalem) with two saddled donkeys and his concubine. 11 When they got close to Jebus, it was late in the day, and the servant said, “Let’s stop at this city of the Jebusites and spend the night.”
12 His master said,
“We won’t turn aside to a city that doesn’t belong to Israel. We’ll go on toward Gibeah. 13 Let’s get close to a place there and spend the night at Gibeah or Ramah.”
14 So they went on past Jebus. The sun went down on them near Gibeah, in Benjamin. 15 They stopped there to go in and spend the night. He sat down in the open square of the town because nobody had taken them home. Jud 19:10-15
16 At evening an old man came in from working in the field. He was from the hill country of Ephraim and living in Gibeah. The men there were Benjamites. 17 He saw the traveler in the open square, and said, “Where are you from, and where are you going?”
18 He said, “We’re going from Bethlehem to a distant part of Ephraim, where I come from. I went to Bethlehem, and I’m going home. Nobody is taking me to his house. 19 We have straw and hay for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me, my maidservant, and the young man with us. We have everything we need.”
20 The old man said, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything you need. Just don’t spend the night in the square.”
21 He took him into his house and gave the donkeys hay. They washed their feet and ate.
Jud 19:16-21
22 As they were relaxing, some riffraff from the city surrounded the house, beating on the door and saying to the old man that owned the house, “Bring the man out that came to your house so we can rape him.” 23 The man went out and said,
“No, brothers, don’t do something so wicked. He has come to my house; don’t do that awful thing. 24 Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do with them what you want, but don’t do such an awful thing.”
25 But the men wouldn’t listen, so the man grabbed his concubine and put her out to them. They raped her and abused her all night till morning. As it started getting daylight, they let her go. 26 She came and fell down at the door of the house where her husband was.
27 Her husband got up in the morning; and when he opened the doors to leave, his concubine was lying there at the door with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up; let’s go on.” But she didn’t answer. He put her on the donkey and went on to his home. 29 When he got there, he took a knife and divided her limb by limb into 12 pieces and sent them all over Israel. 30 Everybody that saw it said, “Such an awful thing has never happened since Israel came up from Egypt. Consider it, take counsel, and speak.” Jud 19:22-30