Judges 19:30

30 And when all men had heard this, they cried, Never such a thing was done in Israel (And when all the people had heard of this, they cried, Such a thing was never done in Israel), from that day in which our fathers ascended from Egypt, till into [the] present time; say ye (the) sentence, and deem ye in common, what is needed to be done (to avenge this horrible deed).

Judges 19:30 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 19:30

And it was so, that all that saw it
The dismembered pieces of the dead body, and were made acquainted with the cause of it; for so Josephus ^F2 says, he gave the messengers a command to declare what was the cause of her death:

said, there was no such deed done nor seen, from the day that the
children of Israel came out of Egypt, unto this day;
meaning not so much the cutting in pieces the dead body, and sending it to different parts; though that was awful and shocking, as the complicated wickedness committed at Gibeah, which was the cause of it, to which reference is had, ( Hosea 9:9 ) this is an observation of the writer of this book, Samuel; but what follows are the words either of those the Levite sent, who were bid to deliver them to those to whom the pieces were sent, or else of the persons present at the time of the delivery of the pieces to them, or whom they got together to disclose the matter to:

consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds;
well weigh and think of the matter within yourselves, consult with one another what is proper to be done, and give your opinion freely without any reserve.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 8.)

Judges 19:30 In-Context

28 And he guessed her to rest (there), and spake to her, (and said,) Rise thou, and go we. And when she answered nothing, he understood that she was dead; and he took her, and put on the ass, and turned again into his house (and he took her, and put her on the donkey, and returned to his house).

29 And when he entered into that house, he took a sword, and parted into twelve parts and gobbets, the dead body of the (secondary) wife, (together) [with her bones,] and sent (them) into all the terms of Israel. (And when he had entered into his house, he took a sword, or a knife, and cut the flesh and bones of the dead body of his concubine into twelve parts, or pieces, and then he sent them into all the corners of Israel.)

30 And when all men had heard this, they cried, Never such a thing was done in Israel (And when all the people had heard of this, they cried, Such a thing was never done in Israel), from that day in which our fathers ascended from Egypt, till into [the] present time; say ye (the) sentence, and deem ye in common, what is needed to be done (to avenge this horrible deed).