In those days before there was a king in Israel, a Levite lived in the hill country of Ephraim. He had a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. But the woman was wroth with him, and returned to her father's house in Bethlehem. He remained there for four months. And the man the Levite went out after the woman, and urged him to go home. His servant was with him and brought two donkeys.
The woman received him at her father's house. When the girl's father saw her, he welcomed her warmly. The father -in -law insisted that the Levite stay with them, so he stayed with them for three days. The couple ate and slept there. In the morning of the fourth day they got up early and got ready to go.
But the woman's father said to his daughter -in -law, "Eat first so that you will not go hungry on the way."
So the Levite and the girl's father ate and drank.
Then the father said to him, "Stay tonight and have fun here."
The Levite was about to leave, but his father restrained him, so he stayed behind.
Early in the morning, on the fifth day, he got up to leave, but the girl's father said,
"Eat before you go." So they ate.
When the Levite and his concubine and the servant were leaving, the father said,
"It is late in the afternoon. It would be nice if you could still go to bed. It's almost night so stay here and enjoy. Get up early tomorrow for your journey. "
But the man did not hold back, so he went with his concubine with the two donkeys. It was late in the evening when they came near the Jebusite (or Jerusalem) so the servant said to his master,
"Let us lodge in this city of the Jebusites."
But the master said,
"We will not lodge in a city where there are no Israelites. Let's go to Gibeah instead. We will go a little farther and lodge in Gibeah or Ramah. "
So they went on their way. There they will spend the night in Gibeah in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. They came to Gibeah to spend the night. The Levite went in and sat in the public square of the city, because no one had made them lie down. At that time, an old man came from working in his field. He was an Ephraimite, but now he lives in Gibeah. The people of Gibeah were descendants of the tribe of Benjamin.
The old man saw them in the square and asked them where they came from and where they were going. And the Levite said, From Bethlehem in Judah we came to the hill country of Ephraim, where I sojourned. I went to Bethlehem and now I'm going home. No one will upload us here.
We have bread and straw for our donkeys, bread and wine for me and my concubine and my servant. We have everything we need. "
The old man said,
"You can come to my house and I will take care of you. Don't spend the night in the square. "
So he brought them and fed their donkeys. His guests washed, ate and drank.
They were glad at that time, when the wicked came out of the city. They surrounded the house and knocked on the door.
They said to the old man, "Let the man who is with you come out. We want to have sex with her! "
But the old man went out and said to them, "Don't be friends! Do not do evil! This person is my guest. Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will take them out now and they will be yours. Do what you want, but do not harm this man! "
But the people did not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and set her outside.
The men raped the woman and molested her all night and did not lure her until morning.
In the morning the woman came and fell down at the door of the old man's house, and she was there in the morning.
In the morning, when the man got up, and when he opened the door, he saw his concubine lying in the doorway, and her hands were on the door.
The man said, "Get up, let us be going." But the woman did not answer. So he loaded the woman on the donkey and continued on his way to them.
When he came to them, he went into the house and took a knife. Then he took the body of his concubine, cut it into 12 pieces and sent each part to the 12 tribes of Israel.
All who saw it said, "We have never seen anything like this since the Israelites came out of Egypt! What should we do about it? "