Judges 19:17

17 He lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, Where go you? and whence come you?

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 turned aside there, to go in to lodge in Gevah: and he went in, and sat him down in the street of the city; for there was no man who took them into his house to lodge.

16 Behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even: now the man was of the hill-country of Efrayim, and he sojourned in Gevah; but the men of the place were Binyamini.

17 He lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, Where go you? and whence come you?

18 He said to him, We are passing from Beit-Lechem-Yehudah to the farther side of the hill-country of Efrayim; from there am I, and I went to Beit-Lechem-Yehudah: and I am [now] going to the house of the LORD; and there is no man who takes me into his house.

19 Yet there is both straw and provender for our donkeys; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your handmaid, and for the young man who is with your servants: there is no want of anything.