Judges 19:4–15

⁴The father-in-law, the young woman’s father, asked him to stay. So he stayed for three days and ate, drank, and slept there.

⁵On the fourth day they got up early in the morning. The Levite was getting ready to leave, but the woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh yourself by eating something. Then go.” ⁶So the two men sat down to eat and drink together. After that, the father said to him, “Please stay tonight. Relax and enjoy yourself.” ⁷When the man got up to go, his father-in-law asked him to stay. So he stayed again that night. ⁸On the fifth day the man got up early in the morning to leave. The woman’s father said, “Refresh yourself. Wait until this afternoon.” So the two men ate together.

⁹When the Levite, his slave woman, and his servant got up to leave, the father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said, “It’s almost night. The day is almost gone. Spend the night here and enjoy yourself. Tomorrow morning you can get up early and go home.” ¹⁰But the Levite did not want to stay another night. So he took his two saddled donkeys and his slave woman and traveled toward the city of Jebus (also called Jerusalem).

¹¹As the day was almost over, they came near Jebus. So the servant said to his master, “Let’s stop at this city of the Jebusites, and spend the night here.”

¹²But his master said, “No. We won’t go inside a foreign city. Those people are not Israelites. We will go on to the city of Gibeah.” ¹³He said, “Come on. Let’s try to make it to Gibeah or Ramah so we can spend the night in one of those cities.” ¹⁴So they went on. The sun went down as they came near Gibeah, which belongs to the tribe of Benjamin. ¹⁵They stopped there to spend the night. They came to the public square of the city and sat down, but no one invited them home to spend the night.