Judges 19:1-6

A Levite and His Concubine

1 In those days, ¹when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of ²the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine from ³Bethlehem in Judah.

2 And his concubine was unfaithful to^[a] him, and she went away from him to her father's house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there some four months.

3 Then her husband arose and went after her, to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys. And she brought him into her father's house. And when the girl's father saw him, he came with joy to meet him.

4 And his father-in-law, the girl's father, made him stay, and he remained with him three days. So they ate and drank and spent the night there.

5 And on the fourth day they arose early in the morning, and he prepared to go, but the girl's father said to his son-in-law, ⁴"Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and after that you may go."

6 So the two of them sat and ate and drank together. And the girl's father said to the man, "Be pleased to spend the night, and ⁵let your heart be merry."

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Judges 19:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 19

This chapter gives an account of a sad affair of a Levite and his concubine, and of the bad consequence of it, how that she played the whore, and went away from him to her father's house, whither he followed her, and where he was kindly entertained by her father several days, Jud 19:1-9 and then set out on his journey to his own country; and passing by Jebus or Jerusalem, he came to Gibeah, and could get no lodging, Jud 19:10-15, but at length was taken in by an old man, an Ephraimite, Jud 19:16-21 when the house where he was beset by some wicked men in Gibeah, with the same intent as the men of Sodom beset the house of Lot, Jud 19:22-24 and after some expostulation of the old man with them, the concubine was brought out to them and abused by them even unto death, Jud 19:25-28 upon which the Levite her husband cut her into twelve pieces, and sent them into all the coasts of Israel, which was shocking and surprising, Jud 19:29,30 the consequence of which is related in the next chapter.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 5

1. Judges 17:6; Judges 18:1; Judges 21:25
2. See Joshua 24:33
3. See Judges 17:7
4. ver. 8; Genesis 18:5
5. ver. 9, 22; Judges 16:25; Ruth 3:7; 2 Samuel 13:28

Footnotes 1

[a]. Septuagint, Old Latin became angry with

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.