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Judges 19:1-30 — A Levite and His Concubine

Judg.19.1-30

¹In those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a Levite living in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, and he took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. ²But his concubine was unfaithful to him , and she went away from him to her father's house in Bethlehem in Judah and stayed there for four months. ³Then her husband arose and went after her to speak tenderly to her and bring her back. His servant was with him, and a pair of donkeys. She brought him into her father's house, and when the young woman's father saw him, he was glad to meet him. ⁴His father-in-law, the young woman's father, pressed him to stay, and he remained with him three days; and they ate and drank and stayed there. ⁵On the fourth day they rose early in the morning, and he got up to go. But the young woman's father said to his son-in-law, 'Refresh yourself with a piece of bread, and afterward you may go.' ⁶So the two of them sat down together and ate and drank. Then the young woman's father said to the man, 'Please consent to stay the night, and let your heart be glad.' ⁷The man got up to go, but his father-in-law pressed him, so he turned back and stayed there that night. ⁸On the fifth day he rose early in the morning to go, but the young woman's father said, 'Please refresh yourself,' and they lingered until the day was declining; and the two of them ate. ⁹Then the man rose to go, he and his concubine and his servant. But his father-in-law, the young woman's father, said to him, 'Look now, the day is drawing toward evening. Please spend the night. See, the day is coming to an end. Stay here, and let your heart be glad. Tomorrow you may rise early for your journey and go to your home.' ¹⁰But the man would not spend the night. He rose and departed and came opposite Jebus—that is, Jerusalem—with a pair of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with him. ¹¹When they were near Jebus and the day was far spent, the servant said to his master, 'Please come, let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.' ¹²But his master said to him, 'We will not turn aside into a city of foreigners, who are not of the people of Israel; we will go on to Gibeah.' ¹³And he said to his servant, 'Come, let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night in Gibeah or in Ramah.' ¹⁴So they passed on and went their way, and the sun set on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. ¹⁵They turned aside there to go in and spend the night in Gibeah. He went in and sat down in the city square, but there was no man who took them into his house to spend the night. ¹⁶And behold, an old man was coming in from his work in the field at evening. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was residing in Gibeah, but the men of the place were Benjamites. ¹⁷He lifted up his eyes and saw the traveling man in the city square, and the old man said, 'Where are you going, and where have you come from?' ¹⁸He said to him, 'We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to the house of the LORD , but there is no man who takes me into his house.' ¹⁹Yet we have both straw and fodder for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me and for your female servant and for the young man with your servants. There is no lack of anything. ²⁰And the old man said, 'Peace be to you. Let all your needs be my concern. Only do not spend the night in the square.' ²¹So he brought him into his house and gave fodder to the donkeys. Then they washed their feet and ate and drank. ²²While they were making their hearts glad, behold, the men of the city, wicked men, surrounded the house, pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the master of the house, 'Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may have relations with him.' ²³Then the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, 'No, my brothers, please do not act so wickedly. Since this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage.' ²⁴Look, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do to them what seems good in your eyes, but to this man do not do this outrageous thing. ²⁵But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and brought her out to them. And they raped her and abused her all night until morning, and they let her go as the dawn was breaking. ²⁶At daybreak the woman came and fell at the doorway of the man's house where her master was, and lay there until it was light. ²⁷Her master rose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to continue his journey. And behold, the woman, his concubine, was lying at the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸He said to her, 'Get up, and let us go.' But there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey, and the man arose and went to his place. ²⁹When he came to his house, he took a knife and seized his concubine and cut her up, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. ³⁰And everyone who saw it said, 'Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it, take counsel, and speak.'

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4/11/2026

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