Judges 19:16–30

¹⁶But behold, an old man was coming from his work, from the field, at evening. Now the man was from ^athe hill country of Ephraim, and he was sojourning in Gibeah, but the men of the place ^bwere Benjamites.

¹⁷And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city; and the old man said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”

¹⁸And he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem in Judah. But I am now going to ¹the house of Yahweh, and no man is taking me into his house.

¹⁹“Yet there is both straw and fodder for our donkeys, and also bread and wine for me, ¹your maidservant, and ^athe young man who is with your servants; there is no lack of anything.”

²⁰Then the old man said, “^aPeace be to you. Only let me take care of all that you lack; however, do not spend the night in the open square.”

^21aSo he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys fodder, and they washed their feet and ate and drank.

²²They were making their hearts merry, and behold, ^athe men of the city, certain ^1bvile fellows, surrounded the house, pounding the door; and they spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house that we may ²know him.”

²³Then the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, please do not do evil. Since this man has come into my house, ^ado not commit this disgraceful act.

²⁴“^aBehold, my daughter who is a virgin, and his concubine—please let me bring them out that you may violate them and do to them whatever is good in your eyes. But do not commit such a disgraceful act against this man.”

²⁵But the men were not willing to listen to him. So the man took hold of his concubine and brought her out to them; and they knew her and abused her all night until morning, and they let her go at the ¹breaking of dawn.

²⁶¹As the day began to dawn, the woman came and fell down at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was, until full daylight.

²⁷Then her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, and behold, the woman, his concubine, was lying at the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold.

²⁸And he said to her, “Get up and let us go,” ^abut there was no answer. Then he took her on the donkey; and the man arose and went to his ¹home.

²⁹Then he entered his house and took a knife and took hold of his concubine and ^acut her in twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.

³⁰And all who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day when the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it; ^atake counsel and speak up!”