Judges 19:17

17 When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, "Where are you going, and where do you come from?"

Judges 19:17 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 19:17

And when he had lifted up his eyes
For it may be, as he came out of the field, he was musing and meditating with his eyes downwards directed, but coming into the city looked up:

he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city;
whom he supposed to be a traveller and a stranger by his dress, and other circumstances, having never seen him before, and knowing pretty well the inhabitants of the place:

and the old man said, whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?
the meaning of the questions is, what place he was travelling to, and from whence he came last.

Judges 19:17 In-Context

15 They stopped to go in and spend the night in Gibeah. The Levite went in and sat down in the city square, but no one took them into their home to spend the night.

16 In the evening, an old man came in from his work in the field. He was from the hill country of Ephraim but was residing in Gibeah, and the men of that place were Benjaminites.

17 When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, "Where are you going, and where do you come from?"

18 He answered him, "We're 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'm going to the house of the Lord. No one has taken me into his home,

19 although we have both straw and feed for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me, your female servant, and the young man with your servant. There is nothing we lack."