Judges 19:1-13 ▼

1 Now it happened in those days, before there was a king in Israel, that a certain male descendant of Levi, who lived in a remote part of the mountainous region of Ephraim, took a mistress for himself from Bethlehem in the territory of Judah.

2 But his mistress was sexually unfaithful to him, and then she left him to live in her father's home in Bethlehem in the territory of Judah. She had been living there for a period of about four months

3 when her husband got up and went after her, intending to speak lovingly to her in order to win her back. He took with him his young man servant and a pair of donkeys. When she brought him into her father's house to see him, her father was happy to have met him.

4 The young woman's father (that is, his father-in-law) made him stay there for three days while they ate and drank during his visit there.

5 On the fourth day, they got up early that morning, and the descendant of Levi got ready to leave. Then the young woman's father-in-law told him, |Fortify yourself by eating some food before you go.|

6 So both of them sat down for a bit, ate and drank together, and the young woman's father invited the man, |Please, enjoy yourself and spend another night.|

7 The man got up, intending to leave, but his father-in-law urged him to spend the night there again.

8 On the fifth day, he got up early in the morning, but the young woman's father-in-law told him, |Please, fortify yourself,| so they delayed until later that afternoon while both of them ate together.

9 When the man got up to leave with his mistress and servant, his father-in-law, the young woman's father, told him, |Look now, evening is coming, so please spend another night. See how the daylight is fading, so spend the night here and enjoy yourself. Then tomorrow get up early and leave on your journey home.|

10 Because the man was unwilling to spend the night, he got up, left, and arrived opposite Jebus (now known as Jerusalem). He had with him a pair of saddled donkeys, along with his mistress.

11 As they approached Jebus, the daylight was almost gone, so the servant suggested to his master, |Come on, let's spend the night in this Jebusite city.|

12 But his master replied, |We're not going to turn aside into a city of foreigners who are not part of the Israelis. Instead, we'll go on to Gibeah.|

13 He also told his servant, |Come on, let's go to one of these places and spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.|