Judges · 30 verses

Judges 19

Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

The chapter

What happens here

Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

The Levite refuses Jebus because it has no Israelites, chooses Gibeah instead, and finds there a house surrounded at night by wicked men.

The journey delayed, then hurriedvv. 1–15

A Levite from the remote hill country of Ephraim goes to Bethlehem to bring back his concubine, who has returned to her father’s house. Her father receives him warmly and keeps persuading him to stay: three days become four, then five, with bread, drink, and much refreshing of the heart. At last the Levite sets out with his concubine, servant, and two donkeys. Jebus lies conveniently near, but it is dismissed as a city of foreigners; Gibeah, an Israelite town, is preferred. There, as the sun goes down, nobody takes them in.

A guest in Gibeahvv. 16–28

An old man from Ephraim, returning from the field, sees the travelers and brings them home rather than leave them in the square. The donkeys are fed, feet are washed, and supper begins pleasantly enough. Then the wicked men of Gibeah surround the house and demand the male guest. The old man offers his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine instead, a proposal as vile as the men’s demand, but the men will not listen. The Levite sends his concubine outside. At dawn she returns to the doorway and collapses there. In the morning, the Levite says the language of an ordinary departure—“Get up”—and, receiving no answer, places her on a donkey and goes home.

Twelve pieces, and a summonsvv. 29–30

At home, the Levite takes a knife, cuts his concubine limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sends them throughout the territory of Israel. The chapter does not supply a speech explaining the act; instead, those who see it answer with astonishment and a public summons to thought, counsel, and speech. After such a night, the closing words sound almost like the minutes of a very grim assembly.

The text

Read it

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

Judg 19:1Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
Judg 19:2But she was unfaithful to him and left him to return to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. After she had been there four months,
Judg 19:3her husband got up and went after her to speak kindly to her and bring her back, taking his servant and a pair of donkeys. So the girl brought him into her father’s house, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.
Judg 19:4His father-in-law, the girl’s father, persuaded him to stay, so he remained with him three days, eating, drinking, and lodging there.
Judg 19:5On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning and prepared to depart, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh your heart with a morsel of bread, and then you can go.”
Judg 19:6So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please agree to stay overnight and let your heart be merry.”
Judg 19:7The man got up to depart, but his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night.
Judg 19:8On the fifth day, he got up early in the morning to depart, but the girl’s father said, “Please refresh your heart.” So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate.
Judg 19:9When the man got up to depart with his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, the day is drawing to a close. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, that your heart may be merry. Then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey home.”
Judg 19:10But the man was unwilling to spend the night. He got up and departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.
Judg 19:11When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Please, let us stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night here.”
Judg 19:12But his master replied, “We will not turn aside to the city of foreigners, where there are no Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.”
Judg 19:13He continued, “Come, let us try to reach one of these towns to spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.”
Judg 19:14So they continued on their journey, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin.
Judg 19:15They stopped to go in and lodge in Gibeah. The Levite went in and sat down in the city square, but no one would take them into his home for the night.
Judg 19:16That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was residing in Gibeah (the men of that place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the field.
Judg 19:17When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going, and where have you come from?”
Judg 19:18The Levite replied, “We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote hill country of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I am going to the house of the LORD; but no one has taken me into his home,
Judg 19:19even though there is both straw and feed for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me and the maidservant and young man with me. There is nothing that we, your servants, lack.”
Judg 19:20“Peace to you,” said the old man. “Let me supply everything you need. Only do not spend the night in the square.”
Judg 19:21So he brought him to his house and fed his donkeys. And they washed their feet and ate and drank.
Judg 19:22While they were enjoying themselves, suddenly the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they said to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house, so we can have relations with him!”
Judg 19:23The owner of the house went out and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Do not commit this outrage.
Judg 19:24Look, let me bring out my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine, and you can use them and do with them as you wish. But do not do such a vile thing to this man.”
Judg 19:25But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go.
Judg 19:26Early that morning, the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, collapsed at the doorway, and lay there until it was light.
Judg 19:27In the morning, when her master got up and opened the doors of the house to go out on his journey, there was his concubine, collapsed in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold.
Judg 19:28“Get up,” he told her. “Let us go.” But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.
Judg 19:29When he reached his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.
Judg 19:30And everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has been seen or done from the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt until this day. Think it over, take counsel, and speak up!”

01 — Also here

Who else the chapter reaches

Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

Leviperson

02 — Read alongside

Where this is echoed

Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 178 passages were voted onto 23 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

22 Genesis 19:4–5Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.
5 Genesis 18:5And I will bring a bit of bread so that you may refresh yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. After that, you may continue on your way.” “Yes,” they replied, “you may do as you have said.”
22 1 Corinthians 6:9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,
24 Genesis 19:8Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
1 Judges 18:1In those days there was no king in Israel, and the tribe of the Danites was looking for territory to occupy. For up to that time they had not come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.
5 Judges 19:8On the fifth day, he got up early in the morning to depart, but the girl’s father said, “Please refresh your heart.” So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate.
6 Ruth 3:7After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then Ruth went in secretly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.
6 Judges 19:9When the man got up to depart with his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, the day is drawing to a close. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, that your heart may be merry. Then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey home.”
6 Judges 16:25And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
22 Judges 20:5And during the night, the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house. They intended to kill me, but they abused my concubine, and she died.
23 Judges 20:6Then I took my concubine, cut her into pieces, and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance, because they had committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.
23 2 Samuel 13:12“No, my brother!” she cried. “Do not violate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing!
23 Genesis 34:7When Jacob’s sons heard what had happened, they returned from the field. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done.
29 1 Samuel 11:7He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent them by messengers throughout the land of Israel, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not march behind Saul and Samuel.” Then the terror of the LORD fell upon the people, and they came out together as one man.
30 Judges 20:7Behold, all you Israelites, give your advice and verdict here and now.”
1 Judges 17:8This man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to settle where he could find a place. And as he traveled, he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim.

Onward

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