Judges 19
19
1And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehem-judah. 2And his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him unto her father’s house to Beth-lehem-judah, and was there the space of four months. 3And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak kindly unto her, to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father’s house; and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. 4And his father-in-law, the damsel’s father, retained him; and he abode with him three days: so they did eat and drink, and lodged there. 5And it came to pass on the fourth day, that they arose early in the morning, and he rose up to depart: and the damsel’s father said unto his son-in-law, Strengthen thy heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward ye shall go your way. 6So they sat down, and did eat and drink, both of them together: and the damsel’s father said unto the man, Be pleased, I pray thee, to tarry all night, and let thy heart be merry. 7And the man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged him, and he lodged there again. 8And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart; and the damsel’s father said, Strengthen thy heart, I pray thee, and tarry ye until the day declineth; and they did eat, both of them. 9And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the damsel’s father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thy heart may be merry; and to-morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.
10But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus (the same is Jerusalem): and there were with him a couple of asses saddled; his concubine also was with him. 11When they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it. 12And his master said unto him, We will not turn aside into the city of a foreigner, that is not of the children of Israel; but we will pass over to Gibeah. 13And he said unto his servant, Come and let us draw near to one of these places; and we will lodge in Gibeah, or in Ramah. 14So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down upon them near to Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin. 15And they turned aside thither, to go in to lodge in Gibeah: and he went in, and sat him down in the street of the city; for there was no man that took them into his house to lodge.
16And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even: now the man was of the hill-country of Ephraim, and he sojourned in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites. 17And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou? 18And he said unto him, We are passing from Beth-lehem-judah unto the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim; from thence am I, and I went to Beth-lehem-judah: and I am now going to the house of Jehovah; and there is no man that taketh me into his house. 19Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man that is with thy servants: there is no want of anything. 20And the old man said, Peace be unto thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street. 21So he brought him into his house, and gave the asses fodder; and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink.
22As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows, beset the house round about, beating at the door; and they spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may know him. 23And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into my house, do not this folly. 24Behold, here is my daughter a virgin, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not any such folly. 25But the men would not hearken to him: so the man laid hold on his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. 26Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her lord was, till it was light.
27And 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 was fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands upon the threshold. 28And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going; but none answered: then he took her up upon the ass; and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. 29And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel. 30And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider it, take counsel, and speak.
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Judges 19: ASV
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Judges 19
19
The Outrage of Gibeah
1These were the days when there was no king ruling in Israel.
Now there was a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim. He took as his mistress # 19:1 Or “concubine.” a woman from Bethlehem in Judah, 2but she eventually was unfaithful. She deserted him and returned to her father’s house in Bethlehem where she stayed for four months.
3The Levite # 19:3 Or “Her husband.” However, the English terminology for marriage does not fit the cultural relationship presented in chs. 19–20. set out with his servant and a pair of donkeys to find her, win back her heart, and try to persuade her to return home with him. She received him into her father’s house, and when the girl’s father saw him, he received him warmly. 4His father-in-law, the girl’s father, pressed him to stay, so the Levite stayed with him three days, and they ate and drank together.
5On the fourth day, early in the morning, he started to leave, but his father-in-law, the girl’s father, insisted, “Eat something first to give you strength for your journey; then you can leave.” 6After the two of them sat down and had breakfast together, the girl’s father said to the Levite, “You might as well stay overnight and enjoy yourself.” 7The Levite started to leave, but his mistress’ father kept urging him to stay until he turned back and spent another night there.
8Early in the morning of the fifth day, he was about to leave when the girl’s father said, “Come, have breakfast.” They ate together and lingered there until past noon. 9Then the Levite, his mistress, and his attendant started to leave. But his mistress’ father said to him, “Look, the day is almost gone; stay another night here and enjoy yourself. Tomorrow, you can start early on your journey and head for home.”
10But the Levite refused; he and his two donkeys, his servant, and his mistress set out and traveled as far as the vicinity of Jebus—that is, Jerusalem. 11Late in the day, they were near Jebus, and the servant said to his master, “Let’s go into this town of the Jebusites and spend the night there.”
12His master said to him, “No. They are not of Israel. We will not enter a town of foreigners. We will go on to Gibeah. 13Come,” he said to his attendant, “we’ll go to another town and spend the night either in Gibeah or in Ramah.” 14So they traveled on, and as the sun set, they were near Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin.
15They turned off there and entered Gibeah to spend the night. The Levite, his servant, and his mistress sat down in the town square, but nobody invited them indoors to spend the night. 16In the evening, an old man came into town from working in his field. This man was from the hill country of Ephraim and resided at Gibeah, where the townspeople were of the tribe of Benjamin. 17He happened to see the travelers sitting in the town square. The old man inquired, “Where do you come from? And where are you headed?”
18The Levite replied, “We’re just passing through. We’re traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the other end of the hill country of Ephraim, where I live. I just made a journey to Bethlehem of Judah, and now we’re on our way to the House of Yahweh, # 19:18 Or “on our way to my house” (LXX). If the Hebrew is to be preferred, “the House of Yahweh” stood at Shiloh. but nobody has offered us hospitality. 19We have plenty of straw and feed for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me and the woman and for the attendant with us. All we need is a roof over our heads; we lack nothing.”
20“Rest easy,” said the old man. “I’ll take care of all your needs. You won’t need to spend the night in the square.” 21So the old man took them into his house. He prepared fodder for the donkeys; then they washed their feet, and they ate and drank together.
The Depraved Men of Gibeah
22They were enjoying themselves when suddenly some perverted and depraved men # 19:22 Or “sons of Belial,” an evil spirit that dwelt in the underworld. of the town surrounded the house and pounded on the door. They called to the aged owner of the house, “Bring out the man you invited into your house so that we can have sex with him.” 23The owner of the house went out to reason with them. “Please, my friends,” he said. “Don’t commit such a wicked act. This man is my guest! Do not perpetrate this outrage. 24Look, here are the man’s mistress and my virgin daughter—let me bring them out to you. Do what you wish with them. Have your pleasure with them, but don’t do such an outrageous thing to this man.” 25But the men refused to listen to him, so the Levite seized his mistress and pushed her out to them. They raped her repeatedly all night until morning and finally let her go when dawn broke.
26At sunrise the woman staggered back to the house where her master had spent the night and collapsed at the entrance of the man’s house. 27When the Levite arose in the morning, he opened the doors of the house to start on his journey, and he saw his mistress lying at the entrance of the house with her hands on the threshold. 28“Get up,” he said to her, “it’s time to go.” But there was no response, for she was dead. # 19:28 The last clause, implied in the Hebrew, is taken from the Septuagint. The man placed her body on the donkey and set out for home. 29When he arrived home, he took a sword, cut the corpse of his mistress limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent them, one for each tribe, throughout Israel. 30And everyone who saw this horrible display, cried out, “Never have we seen such brutality take place from the day we came up from the land of Egypt to this day. We need to decide what we should do about this!”
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