Men from the town of Gibeah kill a woman
1During this time the land_of_Israel did not have a king. There was a Levite who lived far away in the mountains of Ephraim. He was a stranger there. He had a concubine who came from Bethlehem, in the land_of_Judah. 2His concubine went away from him to her father's home in Bethlehem in the land_of_Judah. She stayed there for 4 months, 3then her husband went to her. He wanted to tell her that he still loved her and ask her to go back to him. He took his servant and 2 donkeys with him. She took him into her father's house and her father was happy to see the Levite. He welcomed him. 4Her father did not want him to go home and the Levite stayed there for 3 days and ate, drank and slept there. 5On the 4th day the Levite got up early in the morning to go, but the woman's father said he must first eat, and then he could go. 6So the Levite and his father-in-law sat down to eat and drink together and then his father-in-law said to him: ‘Please, do not go. Sleep here one more night and enjoy it.’
7The Levite wanted to go, but his father-in-law asked him again and again to stay, so he stayed and slept there that night.
8On the 5th day he got up in the morning and wanted to go but his concubine's father said to him: ‘You must first eat.’ He stayed there that day and ate with her father. 9Then the Levite prepared to go with his concubine and his servant. Her father told him: ‘Look, it is too late. It is almost evening. Sleep here tonight in your tent and enjoy it, and then you can go back home in the morning.’
10But the Levite said that he did not want to sleep there, and he did not want to stay any longer. He got up with his concubine and his 2 donkeys and they started to walk to the town of Jebus. 11When they got near to the town of Jebus, it was late and getting dark. His servant said: ‘Let's go into this town of the Jebusite people and sleep there.’
12But the Levite said to his servant: ‘No, those people are not Israelites. We can not go and sleep there. We must go on to the town of Gibeah, 13or we can try to go to the town of Ramah, and then we can sleep there.’
14They walked on and when they came to the town of Gibeah, the sun went down. The Benjamin tribe lived in the town of Gibeah. 15The Levite and his concubine went into the town of Gibeah to sleep there and they went to the market place but no one invited them to sleep at their home. 16Then an old man came from outside the town where he worked in the fields. He had lived on Mount Ephraim before and he was a stranger in Gibeah, living with the Benjamin people. 17When the old man saw that there was someone at the market place, he asked him: ‘Where do you come from and where are you going?’
18The Levite said: ‘We come from Bethlehem in the land_of_Judah and we are going to our home in the mountains of Ephraim. I have been to Bethlehem and now I am going to the house_of_the_Lord. But no one has invited me to sleep at their house. 19We have enough food for the donkeys and food and wine for my concubine, my servant and myself.’
20Then the old man said: ‘You are welcome to come to my house. I will give you everything you need, but you must not stay here tonight.’ 21The old man took them to his house and he gave hay to the donkeys and he washed their feet and they ate and drank. 22They were eating and drinking when some bad men from the town came and stood around his house. They beat on the door and said to the old man: ‘Bring out the man who came to your house. We want to have sex with him.’
23The old man went out to them and he told them: ‘No, friends, please don't do a bad thing to this man. He came into my house. Don't do it. It is a very bad thing that you want to do. 24Here is my daughter. She is a virgin. I will bring her and the man's concubine to you. You can rape them and do what you want, but don't do this very bad thing to this man.’
25But the men outside the house did not want to listen to the old man. Then the Levite pushed his concubine out of the house and the men had sex with her and hurt her all night until the next morning. They let her go just before the sun came up. 26In the morning the woman went back to the house where her husband was. She fell down at the door and lay there until the sun came up. 27When her husband got up and opened the door, she was lying there. Her hand was on the doorstep. 28He said to her: ‘Get up. We must go.’
But she did not answer him. She was dead. The Levite put her body on his donkey and they went home. 29When he got home, he took a knife and he cut his concubine's body into 12 pieces. Then he sent the 12 pieces to all the people in the land_of_Israel. 30Everyone who saw a piece of her body said: ‘Something as bad as this has never happened, from the time when the Israelites came out of Egypt. No one has seen anything like this. We must do something. We must make a plan. We must think and talk about it.’
