Judges 19–21

¹And it cometh to pass, in those days, when there is no king in Israel, that there is a man a Levite, a sojourner in the sides of the hill-country of Ephraim, and he taketh to him a wife, a concubine, out of Beth-Lehem-Judah; ²and commit whoredom against him doth his concubine, and she goeth from him unto the house of her father, unto Beth-Lehem-Judah, and is there days—four months. ³And her husband riseth and goeth after her, to speak unto her heart, to bring her back, and his young man is with him, and a couple of asses; and she bringeth him into the house of her father, and the father of the young woman seeth him, and rejoiceth to meet him. ⁴And keep hold on him doth his father-in-law, father of the young woman, and he abideth with him three days, and they eat and drink, and lodge there. ⁵And it cometh to pass, on the fourth day, that they rise early in the morning, and he riseth to go, and the father of the young woman saith unto his son-in-law, ‘Support thy heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward ye go on.’ ⁶And they sit and eat both of them together, and drink, and the father of the young woman saith unto the man, ‘Be willing, I pray thee, and lodge all night, and let thy heart be glad.’ ⁷And the man riseth to go, and his father-in-law presseth on him, and he turneth back and lodgeth there. ⁸And he riseth early in the morning, on the fifth day, to go, and the father of the young woman saith, ‘Support, I pray thee, thy heart;’ and they have tarried till the turning of the day, and they eat, both of them. ⁹And the man riseth to go, he and his concubine, and his young man, and his father-in-law, father of the young woman, saith to him, ‘Lo, I pray thee, the day hath fallen toward evening, lodge all night, I pray thee; lo, the declining of the day! lodge here, and let thine heart be glad—and ye have risen early to-morrow for your journey, and thou hast gone to thy tent.’ ¹⁰And the man hath not been willing to lodge all night, and he riseth, and goeth, and cometh in till over-against Jebus (It is Jerusalem), and with him are a couple of asses saddled; and his concubine is with him. ¹¹They are near Jebus, and the day hath gone greatly down, and the young man saith unto his lord, ‘Come, I pray thee, and we turn aside unto this city of the Jebusite, and lodge in it.’ ¹²And his lord saith unto him, ‘Let us not turn aside unto the city of a stranger, that is not of the sons of Israel, thither, but we have passed over unto Gibeah.’ ¹³And he saith to his young man, ‘Come, and we draw near to one of the places, and have lodged in Gibeah, or in Ramah.’ ¹⁴And they pass over, and go on, and the sun goeth in upon them near Gibeah, which is to Benjamin; ¹⁵and they turn aside there to go in to lodge in Gibeah, and he goeth in and sitteth in a broad place of the city, and there is no man gathering them into the house to lodge.

¹⁶And lo, a man, an aged one, hath come from his work from the field in the evening, and the man is of the hill-country of Ephraim, and he is a sojourner in Gibeah, and the men of the place are Benjamites. ¹⁷And he lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the man, the traveller, in a broad place of the city, and the aged man saith, ‘Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?’ ¹⁸And he saith unto him, ‘We are passing over from Beth-Lehem-Judah unto the sides of the hill-country of Ephraim—thence I am, and I go unto Beth-Lehem-Judah; and to the house of Jehovah I am going, and there is no man gathering me into the house, ¹⁹and both straw and provender are for our asses, and also bread and wine there are for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man with thy servants; there is no lack of anything.’ ²⁰And the old man saith, ‘Peace to thee; only, all thy lack is on me, only in the broad place lodge not.’ ²¹And he bringeth him in to his house, and mixeth food for the asses, and they wash their feet, and eat and drink.

²²They are making their heart glad, and lo, men of the city, men—sons of worthlessness—have gone round about the house, beating on the door, and they speak unto the old man, the master of the house, saying, ‘Bring out the man who hath come unto thine house, and we know him.’ ²³And the man, the master of the house, goeth out unto them, and saith unto them, ‘Nay, my brethren, do not evil, I pray you, after that this man hath come in unto my house, do not this folly; ²⁴lo, my daughter, the virgin, and his concubine, let me bring them out, I pray you, and humble ye them, and do to them that which is good in your eyes, and to this man do not this foolish thing.’ ²⁵And the men have not been willing to hearken to him, and the man taketh hold on his concubine, and bringeth her out unto them without, and they know her, and roll themselves upon her all the night, till the morning, and send her away in the ascending of the dawn; ²⁶and the woman cometh in at the turning of the morning, and falleth at the opening of the man’s house, where her lord is, till the light. ²⁷And her lord riseth in the morning, and openeth the doors of the house, and goeth out to go on his way, and lo, the woman, his concubine, is fallen at the opening of the house, and her hands are on the threshold, ²⁸and he saith unto her, ‘Rise, and we go;’ and there is none answering, and he taketh her on the ass, and the man riseth and goeth to his place, ²⁹and cometh in unto his house, and taketh the knife, and layeth hold on his concubine, and cutteth her in pieces to her bones—into twelve pieces, and sendeth her into all the border of Israel. ³⁰And it hath come to pass, every one who seeth hath said, ‘There hath not been—yea, there hath not been seen like this, from the day of the coming up of the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt till this day; set your heart upon it, take counsel, and speak.’

Chapter 20

¹And all the sons of Israel go out, and the company is assembled as one man, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba, and the land of Gilead, unto Jehovah, at Mizpeh. ²And the chiefs of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, station themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen drawing sword. ³And the sons of Benjamin hear that the sons of Israel have gone up to Mizpeh. And the sons of Israel say, ‘Speak ye, how hath this evil been?’ ⁴And the man, the Levite, husband of the woman who hath been murdered, answereth and saith, ‘Into Gibeah (which is to Benjamin) I have come, I and my concubine, to lodge; ⁵and rise against me do the masters of Gibeah—and they go round the house against me by night—me they thought to slay, and my concubine they have humbled, and she dieth; ⁶and I lay hold on my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and send her into all the country of the inheritance of Israel; for they have done wickedness and folly in Israel; ⁷lo, ye are all sons of Israel; give for you a word and counsel here.’ ⁸And all the people rise as one man, saying, ‘None of us doth go to his tent, and none of us doth turn aside to his house; ⁹and now, this is the thing which we do to Gibeah—against it by lot! ¹⁰and we have taken ten men of a hundred, of all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of a myriad, to receive provision for the people, to do, at their coming to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly which it hath done in Israel.’ ¹¹And every man of Israel is gathered unto the city, as one man—companions.

¹²And the tribes of Israel send men among all the tribes of Benjamin, saying, ‘What is this evil which hath been among you? ¹³And now, give up the men—sons of worthlessness—which are in Gibeah, and we put them to death, and we put away evil from Israel.’ And the sons of Benjamin have not been willing to hearken to the voice of their brethren, the sons of Israel; ¹⁴and the sons of Benjamin are gathered out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle with the sons of Israel. ¹⁵And the sons of Benjamin number themselves on that day; out of the cities are twenty and six thousand men drawing sword, apart from the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered themselves, seven hundred chosen men; ¹⁶among all this people are seven hundred chosen men, bound of their right hand, each of these slinging with a stone at the hair, and he doth not err. ¹⁷And the men of Israel numbered themselves, apart from Benjamin, four hundred thousand men, drawing sword, each of these a man of war.

¹⁸And they rise and go up to Beth-El, and ask of God, and the sons of Israel say, ‘Who doth go up for us at the commencement to battle with the sons of Benjamin?’ and Jehovah saith, ‘Judah—at the commencement.’ ¹⁹And the sons of Israel rise in the morning, and encamp against Gibeah, ²⁰and the men of Israel go out to battle with Benjamin, and the men of Israel set themselves in array with them, for battle against Gibeah, ²¹and the sons of Benjamin come out from Gibeah, and destroy in Israel on that day two and twenty thousand men—to the earth. ²²And the people, the men of Israel, strengthen themselves, and add to set the battle in array in the place where they arranged themselves on the first day. ²³And the sons of Israel go up and weep before Jehovah till the evening, and ask of Jehovah, saying, ‘Do I add to draw nigh to battle with the sons of Benjamin, my brother?’ And Jehovah saith, ‘Go up against him.’ ²⁴And the sons of Israel draw near unto the sons of Benjamin on the second day, ²⁵and Benjamin cometh out to meet them from Gibeah on the second day, and destroy among the sons of Israel again eighteen thousand men—to the earth; all these are drawing sword.

²⁶And all the sons of Israel go up, even all the people, and come in to Beth-El, and weep, and sit there before Jehovah, and fast on that day till the evening, and cause to ascend burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before Jehovah. ²⁷And the sons of Israel ask of Jehovah,—and there is the ark of the covenant of God in those days, ²⁸and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, is standing before it in those days—saying, ‘Do I add again to go out to battle with the sons…