There was a Levite who lived deep in the hill country of Ephraim. He got a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. ²But she wasn’t faithful to him. She left him. She went back to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. She stayed there for four months.

³Then her husband went to see her. He tried to talk her into coming back with him. He had his servant and two donkeys with him. She took her husband into her father’s house. When her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.

⁴His father-in-law, the woman’s father, begged him to stay. So he remained with him for three days. He ate, drank and slept there.

⁵On the fourth day they got up early. The Levite prepared to leave. But the woman’s father spoke to his son-in-law. He said, “Have something to eat. It will give you strength. Then you can go on your way.”

⁶So the two of them sat down. They ate and drank together. After that, the woman’s father said, “Please stay tonight. Enjoy yourself.”

⁷The man got up to go. But his father-in-law talked him into staying. So he stayed there that night.

⁸On the morning of the fifth day, he got up to go. But the woman’s father said, “Have something to eat. It will give you strength. Wait until this afternoon!” So the two of them ate together.

⁹Then the man got up to leave. His concubine and his servant got up when he did. But his father-in-law, the woman’s father, spoke to him again. “Look,” he said. “It’s almost evening. The day is nearly over. So spend another night here. Please stay. Enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow morning you can get up and go back home.”

¹⁰But the man didn’t want to stay another night. So he left. He went toward Jebus. He had his two donkeys and his concubine with him. The donkeys had saddles on them. Jebus is also called Jerusalem.

¹¹By the time the travelers came near Jebus, the day was almost over. So the servant said to his master, “Come. Let’s stop at this Jebusite city. Let’s spend the night here.”

¹²His master replied, “No. We won’t go into a city where strangers live. The people there aren’t from Israel. We’ll continue on to Gibeah.” ¹³He added, “Come. Let’s try to reach Gibeah or Ramah. We can spend the night in one of those places.”

¹⁴So they continued on. As they came near Gibeah in Benjamin, the sun went down. ¹⁵They stopped there to spend the night. They went to the city’s main street and sat down. But no one took them home for the night.

¹⁶That evening an old man came into the city. He had been working in the fields. He was from the hill country of Ephraim. But he was living in Gibeah. The people who lived there were from the tribe of Benjamin. ¹⁷The old man saw the traveler in the main street. He asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”

¹⁸The Levite answered, “We’ve come from Bethlehem in Judah. We’re on our way to Ephraim. I live deep in the hill country there. I’ve been to Bethlehem. Now I’m going to the house of the Lord. But no one has taken me home for the night. ¹⁹We have straw and feed for our donkeys. We have food and wine for ourselves. We have enough for me, my female servant and the young man who is with us. We don’t need anything.”

²⁰“You are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “I’d be happy to supply anything you might need. But don’t spend the night in the street.”

²¹So the old man took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After the travelers had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink.

²²They were inside enjoying themselves. But some of the evil men who lived in the city surrounded the house. They pounded on the door. They shouted to the old man who owned the house. They said, “Bring out the man who came to your house. We want to have sex with him.”

²³The owner of the house went outside. He said to them, “No, my friends. Don’t do such an evil thing. This man is my guest. So don’t do this terrible thing.

²⁴“Look, here is my virgin daughter. And here’s the Levite’s concubine. I’ll bring them out to you now. You can have them. Do to them what you want to. But don’t do such a terrible thing to this man.”

²⁵The men wouldn’t listen to him. So the Levite sent his concubine out to them. They forced her to have sex with them. They raped her all night long. As the night was ending, they let her go.

²⁶At sunrise she went back to the house where her master was staying. She fell down at the door. She stayed there until daylight.

²⁷Later that morning her master got up. He opened the door of the house. He stepped out to continue on his way. But his concubine was lying there. She had fallen at the doorway of the house. Her hands were reaching out toward the door. ²⁸He said to her, “Get up. Let’s go.” But there wasn’t any answer. Then he put her dead body on his donkey. And he started out for home.

²⁹When he reached home, he got a knife. He cut up his concubine. He cut her into 12 pieces. He sent them into all of the territories of Israel.

³⁰Everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen or done before. Nothing like this has happened since the day the people of Israel came up out of Egypt. Think about it! Consider it! Tell us what to do!”

The Tribe of Benjamin Is Attacked by the Other Tribes

20Then all of the people of Israel came out. They came from the whole land between Dan and Beersheba. They also came from the land of Gilead. All of them gathered together in the sight of the Lord at Mizpah. ²The leaders of all of the tribes of Israel came. They took their places among the people of God who were gathered together. There were 400,000 fighting men who were carrying swords. ³The tribe of Benjamin heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah. The people of Israel said, “Tell us how that awful thing happened.”

⁴So the Levite spoke. He was the husband of the woman who had been murdered. He said, “I and my concubine went to Gibeah in Benjamin. We spent the night there. ⁵During the night the men of Gibeah came after me. They surrounded the house. They were planning to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died.

⁶“I took my concubine and cut her into pieces. I sent one piece to each part of Israel’s territory. I did it because they had done a very terrible thing in Israel. ⁷All of you men of Israel, speak up now. Give your decision.”

⁸All of the men got up together. They said, “None of us will go home. Not one of us will return to his house. ⁹Here is what we’ll do to Gibeah. We’ll use lots to tell us how to attack the city. ¹⁰We’ll take ten men out of every 100 from all of the tribes of Israel. We’ll take 100 from every 1,000. We’ll take 1,000 from every 10,000. The men we take will get supplies for the army. Then the army will go to Gibeah in Benjamin. They’ll give Gibeah exactly what they should get because of the evil thing they did in Israel.”

¹¹So all of the men of Israel came together to fight against the city.

¹²The tribes of Israel sent men through the whole tribe of Benjamin. They said, “What about this awful crime that was committed among you? ¹³Hand over those evil men of Gibeah. We’ll put them to death. In that way we’ll get rid of those evil people.”

But the people of Benjamin wouldn’t listen to the other people of Israel. ¹⁴They came together at Gibeah from their towns. They came to fight against the other people of Israel.

¹⁵Right away the people of Benjamin gathered together 26,000 men from their towns. They were carrying swords. The men were added to the 700 who had been chosen from those who were living in Gibeah. ¹⁶Among all of those men there were 700 who were left-handed. Each of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

¹⁷Israel gathered 400,000 men together. They were carrying swords. All of them were fighting men. That number didn’t include the tribe of Benjamin.

¹⁸The people of Israel went up to Bethel. There they spoke to God. They asked him, “Who will go up first and fight for us against the people of Benjamin?”

The Lord answered, “The tribe of Judah will go first.”

¹⁹The next morning the people of Israel got up. They set up camp near Gibeah. ²⁰The men of Israel went out to fight against the men of Benjamin. They took up their battle positions against them at Gibeah. ²¹The men of Benjamin came out of Gibeah. They killed 22,000 men of Israel on the field of battle that day. ²²But the men of Israel cheered each other on. They again took up their positions in the places where they had been the first day.

²³The men of Israel went and sobbed in the sight of the Lord until evening. They spoke to the Lord. They asked, “Should we go up again to fight against the men of Benjamin? They are our fellow Israelites.”

The Lord answered, “Go up and fight against them.”

²⁴The men of Israel came near the men of Benjamin on the second day. ²⁵The men of Benjamin came out from Gibeah to oppose them. That time they killed 18,000 more men of Israel. All of the men who died had been carrying swords.

²⁶Then all of the people of Israel went up to Bethel. They sat there and sobbed in the sight of the Lord. They didn’t eat anything that day until evening. Then they brought burnt offerings and friendship offerings to the Lord.

²⁷Again the people of Israel spoke to the Lord. In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there. ²⁸Phinehas was serving as priest at the ark. He was the son of Eleazar. Eleazar was the son of Aaron. The people of Israel asked, “Should we go up again to fight against the men of Benjamin? They are our fellow Israelites.”

The Lord answered, “Go. Tomorrow I will hand them over to you.”

²⁹Then Israel hid some men and had them wait all around Gibeah. ³⁰They went up to fight against the men of Benjamin on the third day. They took up their positions against Gibeah, just as they had done before.

³¹The men of Benjamin came out to fight against them. They were drawn away from the city. They began to wound and kill the men of Israel just as they had done before. About 30 men fell in battle. They fell in the open fields and on the roads. One of the…

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This passage has been shortened. Keep reading Judges 19–21 in Logos