Judges 19:16-26

16 And behold, an old man was coming from his work in the field at evening. The man was from ¹the hill country of Ephraim, and he was sojourning in Gibeah. ²The men of the place were Benjaminites.

17 And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city. And the old man said, "Where are you going? And where do you come from?"

18 And he said to him, "We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going ³to the house of the Lord,^[a]⁴but no one has taken me into his house.

19 We have straw and feed for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me and your female servant and the young man with your servants. ⁵There is no lack of anything."

20 And the old man said, ⁶"Peace be to you; I will care for all your wants. ⁷Only, do not spend the night in the square."

21 So he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys feed. ⁸And they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

Gibeah's Crime

22 As they were ⁹making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, ¹⁰surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, "Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him."

23 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, "No, my brothers, ¹¹do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, ¹²do not do this vile thing.

24 ¹³Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. ¹⁴Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man ¹⁵do not do this outrageous thing."

25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go.

26 And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was, until it was light.

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Judges 19:16-26 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 15

1. ver. 1; See Joshua 24:33
2. ver. 14; Judges 20:4
3. Judges 18:31
4. [See ver. 15 above]
5. [Judges 18:10]
6. Genesis 43:23
7. Genesis 19:2
8. Genesis 18:4; Genesis 24:32; Genesis 43:24; [John 13:5]
9. See ver. 6
10. Judges 20:5; [Genesis 19:4]
11. Genesis 19:7
12. Judges 20:6; Genesis 34:7; Deuteronomy 22:21; 2 Samuel 13:12; [Joshua 7:15]
13. [Genesis 19:8]
14. Genesis 34:2; Deuteronomy 21:14
15. [See ver. 23 above]

Footnotes 1

[a]. Septuagint my home; compare verse 29

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