Judges 19:16–30

¹⁶In the evening, an old man came in from his work in the field. He was from the hill country of Ephraim,^d but he was residing in Gibeah where the people were Benjaminites. ¹⁷When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”

¹⁸He answered him, “We’re traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote hill country of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I’m going to the house of the Lord.^C No one has taken me into his home, ¹⁹although there’s straw and feed for the donkeys, and I have bread and wine for me, my concubine, and the servant^D with us. There is nothing we lack.”

²⁰“Welcome!” said the old man. “I’ll take care of everything you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.” ²¹So he brought him to his house and fed the donkeys. Then they washed their feet and ate and drank.^{e 22}While they were enjoying themselves, all of a sudden, wicked men of the city^f surrounded the house and beat on the door. They said to the old man who was the owner of the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him!”

²³The owner of the house went out and said to them, “Please don’t do this evil, my brothers. After all, this man has come into my house. Don’t commit this horrible outrage.^{g 24}Here, let me bring out my virgin daughter^h and the man’s concubine now. Abuse themⁱ and do whatever you want to them. But don’t commit this outrageous thing against this man.”

²⁵But the men would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and took her outside to them. They raped her and abused her all night until morning. At daybreak they let her go. ²⁶Early that morning, the woman made her way back, and as it was getting light, she collapsed at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was.

²⁷When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went out to leave on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, collapsed near the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸“Get up,” he told her. “Let’s go.” But there was no response.^j So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

²⁹When he entered his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and then sent her throughout the territory of Israel. ³⁰Everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or has been seen since the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt until now.^A Think it over, discuss it, and speak up!”