Judges 19–21

A Levite and His Concubine

19In those days Israel had no king.

Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim^o took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.^{p 2}But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her parents’ home in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months, ³her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her parents’ home, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. ⁴His father-in-law, the woman’s father, prevailed on him to stay; so he remained with him three days, eating and drinking,^q and sleeping there.

⁵On the fourth day they got up early and he prepared to leave, but the woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh yourself^r with something to eat; then you can go.” ⁶So the two of them sat down to eat and drink together. Afterward the woman’s father said, “Please stay tonight and enjoy yourself.^s” ⁷And when the man got up to go, his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. ⁸On the morning of the fifth day, when he rose to go, the woman’s father said, “Refresh yourself. Wait till afternoon!” So the two of them ate together.

⁹Then when the man, with his concubine and his servant, got up to leave, his father-in-law, the woman’s father, said, “Now look, it’s almost evening. Spend the night here; the day is nearly over. Stay and enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow morning you can get up and be on your way home.” ¹⁰But, unwilling to stay another night, the man left and went toward Jebus^t (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.

¹¹When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Come, let’s stop at this city of the Jebusites^u and spend the night.”

¹²His master replied, “No. We won’t go into any city whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.” ¹³He added, “Come, let’s try to reach Gibeah or Ramah^v and spend the night in one of those places.” ¹⁴So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin.^{w 15}There they stopped to spend the night.^x They went and sat in the city square,^y but no one took them in for the night.

¹⁶That evening^z an old man from the hill country of Ephraim,^a who was living in Gibeah (the inhabitants of the place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the fields. ¹⁷When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”^b

¹⁸He answered, “We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the Lord.^ac No one has taken me in for the night. ¹⁹We have both straw and fodder^d for our donkeys^e and bread and wine^f for ourselves your servants—me, the woman and the young man with us. We don’t need anything.”

²⁰“You are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “Let me supply whatever you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.” ²¹So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink.^g

²²While they were enjoying themselves,^h some of the wicked menⁱ of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.^j”

²³The owner of the house went outside^k and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing.^{l 24}Look, here is my virgin daughter,^m and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.”

²⁵But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped herⁿ and abused her^o throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. ²⁶At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.

²⁷When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

²⁹When he reached home, he took a knife^p and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel.^{q 30}Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt.^r Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!^s”

The Israelites Punish the Benjamites

20Then all Israel^t from Dan to Beersheba^u and from the land of Gilead came together as one^v and assembled^w before the Lord in Mizpah.^{x 2}The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, four hundred thousand men^y armed with swords. ³(The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said, “Tell us how this awful thing happened.”

⁴So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, “I and my concubine came to Gibeah^z in Benjamin to spend the night.^{a 5}During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me.^b They raped my concubine, and she died.^{c 6}I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one piece to each region of Israel’s inheritance,^d because they committed this lewd and outrageous act^e in Israel. ⁷Now, all you Israelites, speak up and tell me what you have decided to do.^f”

⁸All the men rose up together as one, saying, “None of us will go home. No, not one of us will return to his house. ⁹But now this is what we’ll do to Gibeah: We’ll go up against it in the order decided by casting lots.^{g 10}We’ll take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thousand, and a thousand from ten thousand, to get provisions for the army. Then, when the army arrives at Gibeah^a in Benjamin, it can give them what they deserve for this outrageous act done in Israel.” ¹¹So all the Israelites got together and united as one against the city.^h

¹²The tribes of Israel sent messengers throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What about this awful crime that was committed among you?^{i 13}Now turn those wicked men^j of Gibeah over to us so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.^k”

But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites. ¹⁴From their towns they came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites. ¹⁵At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred able young men from those living in Gibeah. ¹⁶Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred select troops who were left-handed,^l each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

¹⁷Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fit for battle.

¹⁸The Israelites went up to Bethel^bm and inquired of God.ⁿ They said, “Who of us is to go up first^o to fight^p against the Benjamites?”

The Lord replied, “Judah^q shall go first.”

¹⁹The next morning the Israelites got up and pitched camp near Gibeah. ²⁰The Israelites went out to fight the Benjamites and took up battle positions against them at Gibeah. ²¹The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites^r on the battlefield that day. ²²But the Israelites encouraged one another and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day. ²³The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord^s until evening,^t and they inquired of the Lord.^u They said, “Shall we go up again to fight^v against the Benjamites, our fellow Israelites?”

The Lord answered, “Go up against them.”

²⁴Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day. ²⁵This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites,^w all of them armed with swords.

²⁶Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the Lord.^x They fasted^y that day until evening and presented burnt offerings^z and fellowship offerings^a to the Lord.^{b 27}And the Israelites inquired of the Lord.^c (In those days the ark of the covenant of God^d was there, ²⁸with Phinehas son of Eleazar,^e the son of Aaron, ministering before it.)^f They asked, “Shall we go up again to fight against the Benjamites, our fellow Israelites, or not?”

The Lord responded, “Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands.^g”

²⁹Then Israel set an ambush^h around Gibeah. ³⁰They went up against the Benjamites on the third day and took up positions against Gibeah as they had done before. ³¹The Benjamites came out to meet them and were drawn awayⁱ from the city. They began to inflict casualties on the Israelites as before, so that about thirty men fell in the open field and on the roads—the one leading to Bethel^j and the other to Gibeah. ³²While the Benjamites were saying, “We are defeating them as before,”^k the Israelites were saying, “Let’s retreat and draw them away from the city to the roads.”

³³All the men of Israel moved from their places and took up positions at Baal Tamar, and the Israelite ambush charged out of its place^l on the west^c of Gibeah.^{d 34}Then ten thousand of Israel’s able young men made a frontal attack on Gibeah. The fighting was so heavy that the Benjamites did not realize^m how near disaster was.^{n 35}The Lord defeated Benjamin^o before Israel, and on that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords. ³⁶Then the Benjamites saw that they were beaten.

Now the men of Israel had given way^p before Benjamin, because they relied on the ambush^q they had set near Gibeah. ³⁷Those who had been in ambush made a…