The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
The Crime of the Benjamites
Judges 19:1–30 — The Crime of the Benjamites. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
1Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·hî hā·hêm bay·yā·mîm ’ên ū·me·leḵ bə·yiś·rā·’êl way·hî ’îš lê·wî gār bə·yar·kə·ṯê har- ’ep̄·ra·yim way·yiq·qaḥ- lōw ’iš·šāh p̄î·le·ḡeš mib·bêṯ le·ḥem yə·hū·ḏāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-came-to-pass in-the-days those — and-king there-was-none in-Israel — and-there-came-to-be a-man, a-Levite, sojourning in-the-far-thighs of-the-hill-country-of-Ephraim; and-he-took to-him a-woman, a-concubine, from-Bethlehem-Judah.
Where the English smooths the original
She is called “a wife or concubine”— i.e., a wife with inferior rights for herself and her children.
The relationship was sanctioned by custom, cf. Jdg 8:31 , Genesis 22:24 ; Genesis 25:6 etc.; it was regarded as a real marriage, as the sequel shews.
took to himself a concubine out of Bethlehem in Judah, who proved unfaithful to him, and then returned to her father's house.
2But she was unfaithful to him and left him to return to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. After she had been there four months,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
pî·laḡ·šōw wat·tiz·neh ‘ā·lāw wat·tê·leḵ mê·’it·tōw ’el- ’ā·ḇî·hā bêṯ ’el- bêṯ le·ḥem yə·hū·ḏāh wat·tə·hî- šām yā·mîm ’ar·bā·‘āh ḥo·ḏā·šîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-she-played-the-harlot, his-concubine, against-him; and-she-went from-with-him unto the-house-of-her-father, unto Bethlehem-Judah; and-she-was there days, four months.
Where the English smooths the original
The text is open to suspicion. LXX. cod. A reads was angry with him ; this suits the context, which implies a quarrel, but not unfaithfulness, on the woman’s part;Cambridge is reconstructing, not reporting: the reading "she was angry" is a conjecture from the Greek, and our unit does not adopt it — it records that the Hebrew as we have it says zânâh.
Played the whore against him - Perhaps only meaning that she ran away from him, and left him, for she returned to her father's house.
Other versions concur with Josephus, in representing the reason for the flight from her husband's house to be, that she was disgusted with him, through frequent brawls.
3her husband got up and went after her to speak kindly to her and bring her back, taking his servant and a pair of donkeys. So the girl brought him into her father’s house, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’î·šāh way·yā·qām way·yê·leḵ ’a·ḥă·re·hā lə·ḏab·bêr lib·bāh ‘al- la·hă·šī·ḇō wə·na·‘ă·rōw ‘im·mōw wə·ṣe·meḏ ḥă·mō·rîm wat·tə·ḇî·’ê·hū ’ā·ḇî·hā bêṯ han·na·‘ă·rāh ’ă·ḇî way·yir·’ê·hū way·yiś·maḥ liq·rā·ṯōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-rose, her-man, and-he-went after-her, to-speak upon-her-heart, to-bring-her-back; and-his-lad with-him, and-a-yoke of-donkeys. And-she-brought-him to-the-house-of-her-father; and-he-saw-him, the-father-of-the-girl, and-he-rejoiced to-meet-him.
Where the English smooths the original
To speak friendly unto her. —Literally, to speak to her heart — i.e., to bring about a kindly reconciliation
Evidently the Levite was considered to be a desirable son in law, and he had come back to claim his property.Cambridge's "his property" is a nineteenth-century historian's judgement on the social form, not a statement of the text's own valuation; the narrator supplies no such word.
The suffix attached to להשׁיבו refers to לבּה, "to bring back her heart," to turn her to himself again. The Keri השׁיבהּ is a needless conjecture.
4His father-in-law, the girl’s father, persuaded him to stay, so he remained with him three days, eating, drinking, and lodging there.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ḥō·ṯə·nōw han·na·‘ă·rāh ’ă·ḇî way·ye·ḥĕ·zaq- bōw way·yê·šeḇ ’it·tōw šə·lō·šeṯ yā·mîm way·yō·ḵə·lū way·yiš·tū way·yā·lî·nū šām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-held-fast-on-him, his-father-in-law, the-father-of-the-girl, and-he-sat with-him three days; and-they-ate and-they-drank and-they-lodged there.
Where the English smooths the original
One motive of the father-in-law would doubtless be to practise the full rights of hospitality, which are in the East so specially sacred; but he probably desired further to win back the Levite’s heart to his erring daughter.
The pressing and rather boisterous hospitality of the girl’s father has a tragic significance in view of what follows, hence it is emphasized from the beginning.
Retained him . See the same phrase 2 Kings 4:8 , where it is rendered she constrained him. The full phrase is in Genesis 21:18 , hold him in thy hand.
5On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning and prepared to depart, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh your heart with a morsel of bread, and then you can go.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·hî hā·rə·ḇî·‘î bay·yō·wm way·yaš·kî·mū ḇab·bō·qer way·yā·qām lā·le·ḵeṯ han·na·‘ă·rāh ’ă·ḇî way·yō·mer ’el- ḥă·ṯā·nōw sə·‘āḏ lib·bə·ḵā paṯ- le·ḥem wə·’a·ḥar tê·lê·ḵū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-was on-the-day the-fourth, and-they-rose-early in-the-morning, and-he-rose to-go; and-he-said, the-father-of-the-girl, unto his-son-in-law: “Prop-up thy-heart with-a-morsel of-bread, and-afterward ye-shall-go.”
Where the English smooths the original
Comfort thine heart. —Literally, Prop up thy heart, as in Genesis 18:5 . This resembles the Latin expression cor fulcire.
Fortunately these redundancies do not obscure the purpose of this part of the story, which is to explain how it happened that the Levite and his belongings arrived at Gibeah so late in the day.
Also on the fourth day, when he was about to depart in the morning, the Levite yielded to the persuasion of his father-in-law, that he would first of all strengthen his heart again with a bit of bread
6So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please agree to stay overnight and let your heart be merry.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yê·šə·ḇū šə·nê·hem way·yō·ḵə·lū way·yiš·tū yaḥ·dāw han·na·‘ă·rāh ’ă·ḇî way·yō·mer ’el- hā·’îš nā hō·w·’el- wə·lîn lib·be·ḵā wə·yi·ṭaḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-they-sat, the-two-of-them, and-they-ate and-they-drank together; and-he-said, the-father-of-the-girl, unto the-man: “Be-willing, I-pray, and-lodge, and-let-thy-heart-be-good.”
Where the English smooths the original
He had not at first intended to stay on, but to go on his way after he had eaten and drunk (ver. 5). But when they had prolonged their carousal, the father of the damsel persuaded him to stay on another night.
let us spend a pleasant evening together, in drinking freely, though not to excess, in cheerful conversation, and innocent mirth.Gill's reconstruction of the evening's innocence is inference, not text; the narrator reports only eating, drinking and delay.
and then afterwards, whilst they were eating and drinking, he consented to stay another night.
7The man got up to depart, but his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’îš way·yā·qām lā·le·ḵeṯ ḥō·ṯə·nōw way·yā·šāḇ way·yip̄·ṣar- bōw way·yā·len šām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-rose, the-man, to-go; and-he-pressed-on-him, his-father-in-law, and-he-turned-back and-he-lodged there.
Where the English smooths the original
Considering the remorselessly savage revenge which is to this day permitted to an Eastern husband in punishment of unfaithfulness, the father might well desire to be thoroughly assured that the Levite was not dissembling, and did not desire to inflict some sanguinary retribution on his wife.Ellicott's reconstruction of the father's motive is conjecture about custom; the text gives no motive at all.
In spite of the entreaty ( Jdg 19:6 ), the Levite determines to go; he only yields to strong pressure;
When he rose up to go, his father-in-law pressed him; then he turned back (ויּשׁב is quite in place, and is not to be altered into ויּשׁב, according to the lxx and one Heb. Cod.), and remained there for the night.
8On the fifth day, he got up early in the morning to depart, but the girl’s father said, “Please refresh your heart.” So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ha·ḥă·mî·šî bay·yō·wm way·yaš·kêm bab·bō·qer lā·le·ḵeṯ han·na·‘ă·rāh ’ă·ḇî way·yō·mer nā sə·‘āḏ- lə·ḇā·ḇə·ḵā wə·hiṯ·mah·mə·hū ‘aḏ- nə·ṭō·wṯ hay·yō·wm šə·nê·hem way·yō·ḵə·lū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-rose-early in-the-morning on-the-day the-fifth to-go; and-he-said, the-father-of-the-girl: “Prop-up, I-pray, thy-heart” — and-they-lingered until the-turning of-the-day; and-they-ate, the-two-of-them.
Where the English smooths the original
People in the East, who take little or nothing to eat in the morning, do not breakfast till from ten to twelve A.M., and this meal the hospitable relative had purposely protracted to so late a period as to afford an argument for urging a further stay.
The verb is perhaps an imperative: and linger (as in Isa. (19:9) till the day turns. So the LXX., Chaldee, and Vulg. take it.
It should rather be rendered in the imperative mood: And tarry ye until the afternoon.
9When the man got up to depart with his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, the day is drawing to a close. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, that your heart may be merry. Then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey home.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’îš way·yā·qām lā·le·ḵeṯ hū ū·p̄î·laḡ·šōw wə·na·‘ă·rōw ḥō·ṯə·nōw han·na·‘ă·rāh ’ă·ḇî way·yō·mer lōw hin·nêh hay·yō·wm rā·p̄āh la·‘ă·rōḇ nā lî·nū- nā hin·nêh hay·yō·wm ḥă·nō·wṯ lîn pōh lə·ḇā·ḇe·ḵā wə·yî·ṭaḇ wə·hiš·kam·tem mā·ḥār lə·ḏar·kə·ḵem wə·hā·laḵ·tā lə·’ō·hā·le·ḵā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-rose, the-man, to-go — he and-his-concubine and-his-lad — and-he-said to-him his-father-in-law, the-father-of-the-girl: “Behold, I-pray, the-day has-slackened toward-evening; lodge, I-pray. Behold the-encamping of-the-day — lodge here, and-let-thy-heart-be-good; and-ye-shall-rise-early tomorrow for-your-road, and-thou-shalt-go to-thy-tent.”
Where the English smooths the original
The Levite is conscious that if the father has been too pressing he has himself been too self-indulgent, and too fond of good living. “His experience is that of all weak and vacillating people: first, unnecessary delay, and then overstrained hurry.”
it is the encamping time of the day , i.e. the evening, when armies having marched in the day, begin to pitch their camp; or, when the sun that makes the day begins to encamp himself and go toward rest; so it is a poetical expression taken from hence, that the sun, when he sets, seems to vulgar eyes to go to rest.
This is a perfect picture of the manners of the time. It is probable that the father showed more than usual hospitality, in order to ensure the kind treatment of his daughter by her husband. These particulars are given to account for their journey running so far into the evening, which was the immediate cause of the horrible catastrophe which followed.
10But the man was unwilling to spend the night. He got up and departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’îš wə·lō- ’ā·ḇāh lā·lūn way·yā·qām way·yê·leḵ way·yā·ḇō ‘aḏ- nō·ḵaḥ yə·ḇūs hî yə·rū·šā·lim wə·‘im·mōw ṣe·meḏ ḥă·ḇū·šîm ḥă·mō·w·rîm ū·p̄î·laḡ·šōw ‘im·mōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-was-not-willing, the-man, to-lodge; and-he-rose and-he-went, and-he-came as-far-as over-against Jebus — she is Jerusalem — and-with-him a-yoke of-donkeys saddled, and-his-concubine with-him.
Where the English smooths the original
The event showed that it would have been better to have followed the advice of his attendant—to have trusted themselves among aliens than among their own countrymen.
but Jebus is merely an inference from the name of the inhabitants, not a survival from prehistoric times.A text-critical judgement, not a datum: Cambridge is arguing against the received reading, and the unit records the dispute rather than adopting his conclusion.
matters being now made up between them, she had agreed to go with him, and did, which was the end of his coming to her father's house
11When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Please, let us stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night here.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hêm ‘im- yə·ḇūs wə·hay·yō·wm mə·’ōḏ raḏ han·na·‘ar way·yō·mer ’el- ’ă·ḏō·nāw lə·ḵāh- nā wə·nā·sū·rāh ’el- haz·zōṯ hay·ḇū·sî ‘îr- wə·nā·lîn bāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
They were-with Jebus, and-the-day had-gone-far-down; and-he-said, the-lad, unto his-lord: “Come, I-pray, and-let-us-turn-aside unto this city-of-the-Jebusite and-lodge in-her.”
Where the English smooths the original
The father of the woman, by his unwise neglect to “speed the parting guest,” had greatly added to the perils of their journey in a half-conquered country, and in such wild times.
the attendant said to his master, "Come, let us turn aside into this Jebusite city, and pass the night in it.
he proposed it to him in a submissive manner, and might use some entreaty for his master's good and safety
12But his master replied, “We will not turn aside to the city of foreigners, where there are no Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ă·ḏō·nāw way·yō·mer ’ê·lāw lō nā·sūr ’el- ‘îr nā·ḵə·rî ’ă·šer lō- mib·bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl hên·nāh wə·‘ā·ḇar·nū ‘aḏ- giḇ·‘āh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-said unto-him, his-lord: “We-will-not turn-aside unto a-city-of-a-foreigner, which is-not of-the-sons-of-Israel — they; and-we-will-pass-over as-far-as Gibeah.”
Where the English smooths the original
Though in these days there were most horrible corruptions, even necessity could not compel them to associate with those who did not profess the true God.Geneva reads the Levite's refusal as exemplary separation. Held beside JFB on v. 10, it shows how the same decision could be praised as piety and condemned as the fatal mistake — the unit keeps both.
City of a stranger - This shows how completely, even in these early days, the Jebusite population had excluded both the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
That is, of a strange nation; a city which the Canaanites possess.
13He continued, “Come, let us try to reach one of these towns to spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yō·mer lə·na·‘ă·rōw lə·ḵå̄ wə·niq·rə·ḇāh bə·’a·ḥaḏ ham·mə·qō·mō·wṯ wə·lan·nū ḇag·giḇ·‘āh ’ōw ḇā·rā·māh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-said to-his-lad: “Come, and-let-us-draw-near to-one of-the-places, and-we-will-lodge in-Gibeah or in-Ramah.”
Where the English smooths the original
Perhaps he knew that Gibeah did not bear a good character, and that it would be better to get as far as Ramah if possible.Ellicott is inferring a reputation the text does not mention; his supporting reason — that towns without inns acquire characters from travellers' reports — is a general observation, not evidence about Gibeah.
The first of these places was five miles northeast, the other from four to five north of Jerusalem.
The name = hill was a common one (e.g. Joshua 15:57 in Judah, ib. Joshua 24:33 RVm. in Ephraim), and easily leads to confusion.
14So they continued on their journey, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yê·lê·ḵū way·ya·‘aḇ·rū haš·še·meš wat·tā·ḇō lā·hem ’ê·ṣel hag·giḇ·‘āh ’ă·šer lə·ḇin·yā·min
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-they-passed-over and-they-went; and-she-came-in on-them, the-sun, beside Gibeah which is-to-Benjamin.
Where the English smooths the original
They were evidently reluctant to stop at Gibeah; but it was dangerous to travel after dark, and the twilight in Palestine is very brief.
Then they went forward, and the sun went down upon them as they were near (at) Gibeah of Benjamin.
This is added to difference it from another Gibeah in Judah, Joshua 15:57
15They stopped to go in and lodge in Gibeah. The Levite went in and sat down in the city square, but no one would take them into his home for the night.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yā·su·rū šām lā·ḇō·w lā·lūn bag·giḇ·‘āh way·yā·ḇō way·yê·šeḇ hā·‘îr bir·ḥō·wḇ wə·’ên ’îš mə·’as·sêp̄- ’ō·w·ṯām hab·bay·ṯāh lā·lūn
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-they-turned-aside there to-go-in to-lodge in-Gibeah; and-he-came-in and-he-sat in-the-broad-place of-the-city — and-there-was-no man gathering-them to-the-house to-lodge.
Where the English smooths the original
This neglect of the very first duty of the East was sufficient at once to prove the base condition into which Gibeah had fallen
Here, although they were soft and effeminate in other respects, yet they were hard-hearted to strangers, for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging, till a poor labouring man performed that office of hospitality toward them.Benson's "soft and effeminate" is eighteenth-century moral vocabulary for luxury and self-indulgence; it renders no Hebrew word in this verse.
or as some think, those that had such a spirit, and were willing to receive strangers, were afraid, because of their wicked neighbours, who would beset their houses to abuse strangers, as the sequel of this history shows.
In the Arab towns and villages, however, the sheik, or some other person, usually comes out and urgently invites the strangers to his house. This was done also in ancient Palestine (Ge 18:4; 19:2). That the same hospitality was not shown in Gibeah seems to have been owing to the bad character of the people.
16That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was residing in Gibeah (the men of that place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the field.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hin·nêh bā·‘e·reḇ zā·qên ’îš wə·hā·’îš mê·har ’ep̄·ra·yim wə·hū- ḡār bag·giḇ·‘āh wə·’an·šê ham·mā·qō·wm bə·nê yə·mî·nî bā min- ma·‘ă·śê·hū min- haś·śā·ḏeh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-behold, a-man old coming-in from-his-work, from-the-field, at-evening; and-the-man was-from-the-hill-country-of-Ephraim, and-he was-sojourning in-Gibeah — and-the-men-of the-place were-sons-of-the-right-hand.
Where the English smooths the original
This single giver of hospitality was himself a stranger and sojourner at Gibeah.
The only person that paid any attention to the travellers was not a native of the place: it was the same at Sodom, Genesis 19:1 f.
Of Mount Ephraim; whence also the Levite was, which obliged and inclined him to show the more kindness to his countryman.
This was indeed one of the cities belonging to the priests; but the cities which were given to the priests, and whereof they were owners, were not inhabited by the priests or Levites only, especially at this time, when they were but few in number, but by many other persons of different professions.
17When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going, and where have you come from?”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yiś·śā ‘ê·nāw way·yar ’eṯ- hā·’îš hā·’ō·rê·aḥ hā·‘îr bir·ḥōḇ haz·zā·qên hå̄·ʾīš way·yō·mer ’ā·nāh ṯê·lêḵ ū·mê·’a·yin tā·ḇō·w
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-lifted-up his-eyes and-he-saw the-man, the-wayfarer, in-the-broad-place-of-the-city; and-he-said, the-man the-old: “Whither goest-thou, and-from-where comest-thou?”
Where the English smooths the original
When he saw the traveller in the market-place of the town, he asked him whither he was going and whence he came; and when he had heard the particulars concerning his descent and his journey, he received him into his house.
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
18The Levite replied, “We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote hill country of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I am going to the house of the LORD; but no one has taken me into his home,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yō·mer ’ê·lāw ’ă·naḥ·nū ‘ō·ḇə·rîm mib·bêṯ- le·ḥem yə·hū·ḏāh ‘aḏ- yar·kə·ṯê har- ’ep̄·ra·yim miš·šām ’ā·nō·ḵî wā·’ê·lêḵ ‘aḏ- bêṯ le·ḥem yə·hū·ḏāh wə·’eṯ- ’ă·nî hō·lêḵ bêṯ Yah·weh wə·’ên ’îš mə·’as·sêp̄ ’ō·w·ṯî hab·bā·yə·ṯāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-said unto-him: “Passing-over are-we from-Bethlehem-Judah as-far-as the-far-thighs of-the-hill-country-of-Ephraim — from-there am-I; and-I-went as-far-as Bethlehem-Judah, and-the-house-of-YHWH I am-walking; and-there-is-no man gathering me to-the-house.
Where the English smooths the original
His office ought to have procured him a welcome, yet he who belongs to God’s house cannot find shelter in any house in Gibeah.
the last letter of bêthî = my house was taken as the initial of the divine nameA conjectural emendation, and the unit does not adopt it — but it is the reason the sole divine name in this chapter must be marked as uncertain rather than assumed.
Because he served at the house of Jehovah, no one in Gibeah would receive him into his house
Thither he went, either because he lived there for that was in the tribe of Ephraim; or, rather, because he would there offer prayers and praises, and sacrifices to God, for his mercy in reconciling him and his wife.
19even though there is both straw and feed for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me and the maidservant and young man with me. There is nothing that we, your servants, lack.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yêš wə·ḡam- te·ḇen gam- mis·pō·w la·ḥă·mō·w·rê·nū wə·ḡam le·ḥem wā·ya·yin yeš- lî wə·la·’ă·mā·ṯe·ḵā wə·lan·na·‘ar ‘im- ’ên ‘ă·ḇā·ḏe·ḵā kāl- dā·ḇār maḥ·sō·wr
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“And-yet there-is straw and-also fodder for-our-donkeys, and-also bread and-wine there-is for-me and-for-thy-handmaid and-for-the-lad with thy-servants — there-is-no lack of-any-thing.”
Where the English smooths the original
All that the Levite asked was shelter. He would provide for all his own wants.
he means himself and his concubine, describing himself and his wife, according to the obsequious style of the East in olden times, as servants of the man from whom he was expecting a welcome.
Oriental travellers always carry a stock of provisions with them; and knowing that even the khans or lodging-houses they may find on their way afford nothing beyond rest and shelter, they are careful to lay in a supply of food both for themselves and their beasts. Instead of hay, which is seldom met with, they used chopped straw, which, with a mixture of barley, beans, or the like, forms the provender for cattle.
20“Peace to you,” said the old man. “Let me supply everything you need. Only do not spend the night in the square.”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
šā·lō·wm lāḵ way·yō·mer haz·zā·qên hā·’îš ‘ā·lāy raq kāl- maḥ·sō·wr·ḵā raq ’al- tā·lan bā·rə·ḥō·wḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-said, the-man the-old: “Shalom to-thee; only all-thy-lack upon-me — only in-the-broad-place do-not lodge.”
Where the English smooths the original
The words are not here a greeting, but an assurance of help.
the probability is that the old man's earnest dissuasive from such a procedure arose from his acquaintance with the infamous practices of the place.
It matters not whether thou wantest nothing or every thing, I will take care to supply all thy wants.
21So he brought him to his house and fed his donkeys. And they washed their feet and ate and drank.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·ḇî·’ê·hū lə·ḇê·ṯōw way·yå̄·ḇå̄·wl la·ḥă·mō·w·rîm way·yir·ḥă·ṣū raḡ·lê·hem way·yō·ḵə·lū way·yiš·tū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-brought-him to-his-house, and-he-mixed-fodder for-the-donkeys; and-they-washed their-feet, and-they-ate and-they-drank.
Where the English smooths the original
Notice the humane Eastern custom of attending first the wants of the animals.
this is mentioned first, it being then perhaps, as now, the first thing that a careful man is concerned for, to see that his cattle is taken care of
He then took him into his house, mixed fodder for his asses (יבול from בּלל, a denom. verb from בּליל, to make a mixture, to give fodder to the beasts), and waited upon his guest with washing of feet, food, and drink
22While they were enjoying themselves, suddenly the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they said to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house, so we can have relations with him!”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hêm·māh mê·ṭî·ḇîm ’eṯ- lib·bām wə·hin·nêh ḇə·lî·ya·‘al ’an·šê hā·‘îr ’an·šê ḇə·nê- nā·sab·bū ’eṯ- hab·ba·yiṯ miṯ·dap·pə·qîm ‘al- had·dā·leṯ way·yō·mə·rū ’el- haz·zā·qên hā·’îš ba·‘al hab·ba·yiṯ lê·mōr hō·w·ṣê ’eṯ- hā·’îš ’ă·šer- bā ’el- bê·ṯə·ḵā wə·nê·ḏā·‘en·nū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
They were-making-good their-heart — and-behold, men-of the-city, men sons-of-Belial, went-round-about the-house, hammering on the-door; and-they-said unto the-man, the-master-of-the-house, the-old-one: “Bring-out the-man who came unto thy-house, and-let-us-know-him.”
Where the English smooths the original
It is only by a deeply-rooted misconception that Belial is written with a capital. The word is not the name (as is supposed) of an evil spirit, but an ordinary noun, “sons of worthlessness,”
The singular resemblance of the whole narrative to that in Genesis 19 . suggests that the Israelites by their contact with the accursed Canaanites had reduced themselves to the level of Sodom and Gomorrah.Pulpit's concluding inference — that this proves the wisdom of the command to destroy the Canaanites utterly — is his own moral argument, not a claim the text makes here; we quote the comparison, not the conclusion.
an ambiguous expression, whereby they pretended only a desire to know and see what person he had brought among them, and yet carry on their wicked design of knowing him carnally.
It looks as if the present narrative had been deliberately conformed here and there to the description of the immorality of the Sodomites.
23The owner of the house went out and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Do not commit this outrage.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’îš ba·‘al hab·ba·yiṯ way·yê·ṣê ’ă·lê·hem way·yō·mer ’ă·lê·hem ’al- ’a·ḥay ’al- tā·rê·‘ū nā ’a·ḥă·rê ’ă·šer- haz·zeh ’al- hā·’îš bā bē·ṯī ’al- ta·‘ă·śū ’eṯ- haz·zōṯ han·nə·ḇā·lāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-went-out unto-them, the-man, the-master-of-the-house, and-he-said unto-them: “No, my-brothers, do-not-do-evil, I-pray. After that has-come this-man into-my-house, do-not-do this-outrage.
Where the English smooths the original
It is from no deficiency of moral indignation that the word “folly” ( nebalah ) is used.
The Hebr. nebâlâh means much more than folly ; it implies moral insensibility, repudiation of the claims of morality and religion, particularly, in this phrase, an outrage against the laws of nature
He appeals to the sacred rights of hospitality, just as Lot did Genesis 19:8 . Both cases betray painfully the low place in the social scale occupied by woman in the old world, from which it is one of the glories of Christianity to have raised her.
24Look, let me bring out my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine, and you can use them and do with them as you wish. But do not do such a vile thing to this man.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hin·nêh ’ō·w·ṣî·’āh- hab·bə·ṯū·lāh ḇit·tî ū·p̄î·laḡ·šê·hū nā ’ō·w·ṯām wə·‘an·nū ’ō·w·ṯām wa·‘ă·śū lā·hem haṭ·ṭō·wḇ bə·‘ê·nê·ḵem lō ṯa·‘ă·śū haz·zōṯ han·nə·ḇā·lāh də·ḇar haz·zeh wə·lā·’îš
Literal — word-for-word from the original
“Behold, my-daughter the-virgin, and-his-concubine — let-me-bring-them-out, I-pray, and-humble-ye them, and-do to-them the-good in-your-eyes; but-to-this-man ye-shall-not-do this-thing-of-outrage.”
Where the English smooths the original
There is something terribly repulsive in the selfishness which could thus make a Levite sacrifice a defenceless woman, and that woman his wife, for a whole night to such brutalisation.
Although of two evils we must choose the less, yet, as we have there observed, “of two sins we must choose neither, nor ever do evil that good may come.”
Pushed to this extreme, the code of honour becomes a sanction of dishonour. The writer, however, does not question the morality of the proceeding.Cambridge means the narrator of this chapter offers no explicit verdict. That is true of ch. 19 in isolation and misleading about the book, whose next two chapters are the verdict.
this offer was sinful, because he offered that which was not in his nor in the man’s power to dispose of, even the chastity of his daughter, and the man’s wife;
25But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’îš ’ā·ḇū hā·’ă·nā·šîm wə·lō- liš·mō·a‘ lōw way·ya·ḥă·zêq bə·p̄î·laḡ·šōw way·yō·ṣê ha·ḥūṣ ’ă·lê·hem way·yê·ḏə·‘ū ’ō·w·ṯāh way·yiṯ·‘al·lə·lū- ḇāh kāl- hal·lay·lāh ‘aḏ- hab·bō·qer ba·ʿă·lōṯ haš·šā·ḥar way·šal·lə·ḥū·hā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-they-were-not-willing, the-men, to-listen to-him; and-he-seized, the-man, on-his-concubine, and-he-brought-her-out to-them, the-outside; and-they-knew her and-they-abused her all-the-night until the-morning, and-they-sent-her-away at-the-going-up-of-the-dawn.
Where the English smooths the original
If the offer of the host strikes us as immoral, the conduct of the Levite makes an even worse impression: he sacrifices his concubine-wife to save himself.Cambridge's closing claim on this verse — "Our standards of morality are inapplicable" — is a historicist judgement we do not adopt; the Hebrew text itself supplies the word nebâlâh for what happens here.
One's blood boils at such selfish baseness and such cowardly cruelty.
But as the people would not listen to this proposal, the man (no doubt the master of the house, according to Judges 19:24 ) took his (the guest's) concubine (of course with the consent of his guest) and led her out to them, and they abused her the whole night.
her husband, perceiving this, laid hold on her by main strength, as the word signifies, and brought her out whether she would or not, as Kimchi notes
26Early that morning, the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, collapsed at the doorway, and lay there until it was light.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lip̄·nō·wṯ hab·bō·qer hā·’iš·šāh wat·tā·ḇō bêṯ- hā·’îš ’ă·šer- ’ă·ḏō·w·ne·hā wat·tip·pōl pe·ṯaḥ ‘aḏ- hā·’ō·wr šām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-she-came, the-woman, at-the-turning of-the-morning, and-she-fell at-the-opening of-the-house-of-the-man where her-lord was — until the-light.
Where the English smooths the original
It would be scarcely possible to enhance the depth of pathos and of horror which the sacred writer throws into these simple words.
Namely, dead; killed partly with grief of heart, and partly with excessive abuse.
Thus the sin she formerly chose, Judges 19:2 , is now her destruction; and though her husband and pardoned her, God would punish her, at least as to this life.Poole (with Benson and Ellicott) reads her death as divine retribution for v. 2. This is the commentators' inference, not the narrator's: the text assigns her no guilt here and pronounces no judgement. We print it because it is what the tradition said, and we mark it as an inference.
27In the morning, when her master got up and opened the doors of the house to go out on his journey, there was his concubine, collapsed in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
bab·bō·qer ’ă·ḏō·ne·hā way·yā·qām way·yip̄·taḥ dal·ṯō·wṯ hab·ba·yiṯ way·yê·ṣê lā·le·ḵeṯ lə·ḏar·kōw wə·hin·nêh hā·’iš·šāh p̄î·laḡ·šōw nō·p̄e·leṯ pe·ṯaḥ hab·ba·yiṯ wə·yā·ḏe·hā ‘al- has·sap̄
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-rose, her-lord, in-the-morning, and-he-opened the-doors of-the-house, and-he-went-out to-go on-his-road — and-behold, the-woman his-concubine fallen at-the-opening-of-the-house, and-her-hands upon the-threshold.
Where the English smooths the original
As though they had been stretched out towards her husband in one last agony of appeal
with her last breath she turned to the house where he was who should have been her protector, but who had deserted her in her hour of need.
With instinctive art the Hebrew story-teller leaves much to the imagination (cf. Jdg 11:39 ); but at the end of the verse he adds a detail which betrays the pathos of the tragedy.
There her husband found her, when he opened the house-door to go his way (having given up all thought of receiving her back again from the barbarous crowd), "lying before the house-door, and her hands upon the threshold
28“Get up,” he told her. “Let us go.” But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
qū·mî way·yō·mer ’ê·le·hā wə·nê·lê·ḵāh wə·’ên ‘ō·neh hā·’îš way·yê·leḵ way·yiq·qā·ḥe·hā ‘al- ha·ḥă·mō·wr way·yā·qām lim·qō·mōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-said unto-her: “Arise, and-let-us-go.” And-there-was-none answering. And-he-took-her upon the-donkey, and-he-rose, the-man, and-he-went to-his-place.
Where the English smooths the original
The sacred writer, in his horror, will not say that she was dead.
The sheer brutality of the Levite’s words prepares us for his savage appeal for vengeance.
He thought she was only asleep, and the unexpected surprise of seeing her, and his haste to get out of this inhospitable place, might make him express himself in this manner.Benson is defending the Levite by supplying a state of mind; the text supplies none, and Cambridge reads the same words as brutality. We print both.
29When he reached his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yā·ḇō ’el- bê·ṯōw way·yiq·qaḥ ’eṯ- ham·ma·’ă·ḵe·leṯ way·ya·ḥă·zêq bə·p̄î·laḡ·šōw way·nat·tə·ḥe·hā la·‘ă·ṣā·me·hā liš·nêm ‘ā·śār nə·ṯā·ḥîm way·šal·lə·ḥe·hā bə·ḵōl gə·ḇūl yiś·rā·’êl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-came to-his-house, and-he-took the-knife, and-he-seized on-his-concubine, and-he-cut-her-in-pieces according-to-her-bones into-twelve pieces, and-he-sent-her into-all the-border-of-Israel.
Where the English smooths the original
There is something truly terrible in the stern ferocity of grief and indignation which dictated this desperate effort to arouse his countrymen to avenge his wrong.
But the two accounts differ in meaning: Saul’s summons was intended to convey a threat, the Levite’s to call forth horror.
We see again that the narrative is taking us back to wild times, when the passions of men expressed themselves in wild and fierce expedients.
This might seem to be a barbarous and inhuman act in itself; but may seem excusable, if it be considered that the sadness of the spectacle did highly contribute to stir up the zeal of all the Israelites to avenge his concubine’s death, and to execute justice upon such profligate offenders; and was necessary, especially in this time of anarchy and general corruption, Judges 17:6 , to awaken them out of that lethargy in which all the tribes lay.Poole's "may seem excusable" is a seventeenth-century pastoral defence of the act's usefulness; it is not a claim the text makes, and Barnes on the same verse does not excuse it at all.
30And everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has been seen or done from the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt until this day. Think it over, take counsel, and speak up!”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hā·yāh ḵāl hā·rō·’eh wə·’ā·mar lō- kā·zōṯ nir·’ă·ṯāh nih·yə·ṯāh wə·lō- lə·mî·yō·wm bə·nê- yiś·rā·’êl ‘ă·lō·wṯ mê·’e·reṣ miṣ·ra·yim ‘aḏ haz·zeh hay·yō·wm śî·mū- lā·ḵem ‘ā·le·hā ‘u·ṣū wə·ḏab·bê·rū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-was, everyone seeing said: “There-has-not-been and-there-has-not-been-seen like-this from-the-day of-the-going-up-of-the-sons-of-Israel from-the-land-of-Egypt until this day. Set yourselves upon-her, take-counsel, and-speak.”
Where the English smooths the original
The story of the deed thrilled through all Palestine and awoke a determined desire for retribution upon the guilty inhabitants of Gibeah.
For this was like the sin of Sodom for which God rained down fire and brimstone from heaven.
Consider of it … speak is much more suitable as the Levite’s message than as the exclamation of those who discussed the summons.Cambridge is arguing for a longer text restored from LXX cod. A, in which these words are the Levite's message rather than the nation's outcry. The unit follows the Hebrew as received and records the alternative.
let us meet together, and seriously consider, and every one freely speak what is to be done in this case.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The chapter opens on an absence: אֵין מֶלֶךְ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל — a particle of non-entity where a king should be. Gill takes the refrain as the book's own legal explanation, observed "to account for wickedness being committed with impunity, such as adultery, sodomy, murder, &c. afterwards related." Pulpit fixes the period tightly, arguing from Judges 20:27-28 that these events fall "in the lifetime of Phinehas, and while the ark was at Shiloh" — not the decayed end of the era but its early, lawless middle. Every person in the chapter is named by function, never by name: a Levite, a concubine, a father, a lad, an old man, the men of the city. ⚙ That is not carelessness. Where there is no king, there are no persons, only roles — and roles can be traded. Ellicott's note on the woman sets the terms: "She is called 'a wife or concubine' — i.e., a wife with inferior rights for herself and her children." Cambridge confirms the marriage was real: "it was regarded as a real marriage, as the sequel shews." She is a wife with fewer defences, in a land with no king.
The middle of the story is a comedy of manners with a corpse at the end of it. The father-in-law וַיֶּחֱזַק־בּוֹ — K&D: "constrained him (יהזק־בּו, lit. held him fast)"; Cambridge: "laid hold on him to prevent him from going away." Twice he says סְעָד לִבְּךָ, "prop up thy heart," which Ellicott identifies precisely: "Literally, Prop up thy heart, as in Genesis 18:5. This resembles the Latin expression cor fulcire." These are Abraham's words at the tent door. Cambridge sees the narrative purpose plainly — the redundancies "do not obscure the purpose of this part of the story, which is to explain how it happened that the Levite and his belongings arrived at Gibeah so late in the day" — and also sees the shadow in it: "The pressing and rather boisterous hospitality of the girl's father has a tragic significance in view of what follows." Ellicott lands the character study: "The Levite is conscious that if the father has been too pressing he has himself been too self-indulgent … 'first, unnecessary delay, and then overstrained hurry.'" ⚙ Two men keep propping up their hearts with bread. No one asks the woman anything at all.
The decision that destroys them is a decision about religious purity. The lad proposes Jebus; the master refuses עִיר נָכְרִי, "a city of a foreigner, which is not of the sons of Israel." Geneva praises exactly this: "Though in these days there were most horrible corruptions, even necessity could not compel them to associate with those who did not profess the true God." Gill agrees the refusal shows "this Levite was a good man, and conscientious." JFB delivers the verdict the narrative itself delivers: "The event showed that it would have been better to have followed the advice of his attendant — to have trusted themselves among aliens than among their own countrymen." They reach the square of Gibeah and וְאֵין אִישׁ מְאַסֵּף אוֹתָם הַבַּיְתָה — "there is no man gathering them to the house." Ellicott: "This neglect of the very first duty of the East was sufficient at once to prove the base condition into which Gibeah had fallen." Benson notes the one exception: "they were hard-hearted to strangers, for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging, till a poor labouring man performed that office of hospitality toward them."
The rescuer is himself a foreigner in Gibeah — Barnes: "This single giver of hospitality was himself a stranger and sojourner at Gibeah"; Cambridge: "The only person that paid any attention to the travellers was not a native of the place: it was the same at Sodom." Then the verb מִתְדַּפְּקִים, a Hitpael participle of a root found in only three verses in the whole canon: Ellicott, "The word implies continuous knocking and gradual increase of noise." Ellicott also disarms the name Belial: "The word is not the name (as is supposed) of an evil spirit, but an ordinary noun, 'sons of worthlessness'." The old man calls the demand נְבָלָה; Cambridge: "The Hebr. nebâlâh means much more than folly; it implies moral insensibility, repudiation of the claims of morality and religion." And then the offer. Ellicott refuses to look away: "There is something terribly repulsive in the selfishness which could thus make a Levite sacrifice a defenceless woman, and that woman his wife, for a whole night to such brutalisation." JFB: "Both men ought to have protected the women in the house, even though at the expense of their lives." Benson names the rule that was broken: "of two sins we must choose neither, nor ever do evil that good may come." Cambridge, more coldly, says the writer "does not question the morality of the proceeding" — ⚙ which is true of the narrator's silence and false of the book's shape, since the next two chapters are nothing but the consequence.
She comes back to the door she was pushed out of. וְיָדֶיהָ עַל־הַסַּף — Ellicott: "As though they had been stretched out towards her husband in one last agony of appeal." Cambridge: "With instinctive art the Hebrew story-teller leaves much to the imagination; but at the end of the verse he adds a detail which betrays the pathos of the tragedy." The husband's first recorded words to her in the whole chapter are ק֥וּמִי וְנֵלֵכָה, "Get up, let us go" — Cambridge: "The sheer brutality of the Levite's words prepares us for his savage appeal for vengeance." Ellicott notes what the narrator will not say: "The sacred writer, in his horror, will not say that she was dead." Then the knife — Barnes: "Rather, 'the' knife. The single household implement used … for slaughtering and cutting up the animals" — and the verb וַיְנַתְּחֶהָ, which Cambridge identifies as "the regular term for cutting up a sacrificial victim, Exodus 29:17, Leviticus 1:6." K&D calls the whole act "a symbolical act, by which the crime committed upon the murdered woman was placed before the eyes of the whole nation." Barnes will not tidy it: "There is something truly terrible in the stern ferocity of grief and indignation which dictated this desperate effort to arouse his countrymen." Ellicott records the result: "The story of the deed thrilled through all Palestine and awoke a determined desire for retribution upon the guilty inhabitants of Gibeah."
⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested, and it is not Scripture. Judges 19 is the only chapter in the canon that tells the Sodom story twice — once in Genesis, where angels blind the mob and fire falls, and once here, where no angel comes, no fire falls, and the door opens from the inside. Cambridge is right that the phrasing has been "deliberately conformed here and there to the description of the immorality of the Sodomites"; Pulpit draws the conclusion: "the Israelites by their contact with the accursed Canaanites had reduced themselves to the level of Sodom and Gomorrah." ⚙ But the deeper horror is the difference, not the likeness. At Sodom the guests were rescued. At Gibeah the guest rescued himself, and the rescue was purchased. The chapter's own diagnosis is given in its first clause and repeated at the book's close: there was no king in Israel. Not: Israel had a wicked king. Not: Israel's law was insufficient. The law against nebâlâh was on the books; the old man cites it at the door and it does not save anyone, because a law with no throne behind it is only an opinion shouted through wood. ⚙ Read this way, the twelve pieces sent through the twelve tribes are a parody of covenant unity — a nation summoned to be one body by the dismembering of one woman's body, because the one thing that could have summoned it, a king who does justice, does not exist. The chapter ends on three imperatives — set your heart on her, take counsel, speak. It asks the reader for a verdict, and the verdict Judges wants is not chiefly against Gibeah. It is against a covenant people who can still be horrified and cannot yet be governed.
A people with no king will never lack for horror; it will only lack for justice.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The correspondences are dense and deliberate: a stranger sitting in the open place at evening (Genesis 19:1-2), a single resident alien taking him in, the house surrounded, the demand "bring out the man … that we may know him," the offer of daughters. Cambridge states it flatly of v. 22, "The same words in Genesis 19:4-5," and of v. 24, "the phrases are identical with those in Genesis 19:8," judging that "the present narrative had been deliberately conformed here and there to the description of the immorality of the Sodomites." K&D notes the demand is "the very same demand that the Sodomites had made of Lot"; Ellicott, "There is a close resemblance to the equally hideous narrative of Genesis 19:8"; Pulpit draws the moral, that Israel "had reduced themselves to the level of Sodom and Gomorrah." ⚙ We tier this structural rather than verbal: the Verifier's computed overlap for the pair is made of common lexemes, and no quotation formula is present in either direction.
Genesis 19:2 · Genesis 19:8
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H3885 lûwn (in 78 vv), H7925 shâkam (in 64 vv), H4994 nâʼ (in 375 vv) — all common, so the computed basis supports a shared pattern, not a quotation. The phrase-level identity is additionally attested by named commentators (Cambridge: "The same words in Genesis 19:4-5"; K&D; Ellicott; Pulpit).
The last imperative of the chapter is עֻצוּ (ʻûwts, H5779, "to consult"), and the Verifier finds it in only two verses in the whole Hebrew canon. The other is Isaiah 8:10: "Take counsel together, but it shall come to nothing." K&D paraphrases the Judges summons: "make up your minds and say on, i.e., decide how this unparalleled wickedness is to be punished," and Poole: "let us meet together, and seriously consider, and every one freely speak what is to be done." ⚙ The rarity is the whole point of the link. Israel does take counsel in chapters 20-21, and the counsel destroys a tribe and then abducts women to replace it. The one other place the canon uses this verb, it is telling a nation that its counsel will not stand, because God is with us and they are not.
Isaiah 8:10
basis: Verifier: shared rare Hebrew lexeme H5779 ʻûwts, occurring in only 2 verses in the canon (Judges 19:30; Isaiah 8:10). A genuine verbal link at the level of vocabulary; no quotation or citation is claimed in either direction.
מִתְדַּפְּקִים (dâphaq, H1849) appears in only three verses of Scripture, and the Verifier links all three. In Genesis 33:13 Jacob will not drive the flocks hard lest they die. In Judges 19:22 the men of Gibeah hammer at a door to drag a man out — Ellicott: "The word implies continuous knocking and gradual increase of noise ( Song of Solomon 5:2 )," and K&D notes the Hitpael is "a form indicative of gradual increase." In Song of Solomon 5:2 a beloved knocks at a door and asks to be let in, and is not opened to in time. ⚙ Three doors, one verb: one man who will not drive the weak past their strength, one mob that drives until a woman dies, and one lover who knocks and waits. We record this as a lexical link only; nothing in the three contexts suggests literary dependence.
Genesis 33:13 · Song of Solomon 5:2
basis: Verifier: shared rare Hebrew lexeme H1849 dâphaq, occurring in only 3 verses in the canon (Gen 33:13; Judg 19:22; Song 5:2). Verbal at the level of vocabulary; no quotation is claimed. Ellicott independently cites Song of Solomon 5:2 at this word.
The Levite's inventory in v. 19 and the old man's reception in v. 21 reproduce, almost item for item, the reception of Abraham's servant at Nahor: תֶּבֶן וּמִסְפּוֹא "straw and provender," and then water to wash the feet (Genesis 24:25, 32). Cambridge notes the parallel at v. 19 — "Similarly Genesis 24:25" — and Ellicott sends the reader to "Genesis 24:25-32," adding that "All that the Levite asked was shelter." Ellicott also catches the order of operations in v. 21: "Notice the humane Eastern custom of attending first the wants of the animals," which Gill spells out. ⚙ The formula is not decoration. Genesis 24 is the chapter where hospitality to a stranger becomes the mechanism of the covenant line; Judges 19 is the chapter where its refusal becomes the mechanism of a civil war.
Genesis 24:25 · Genesis 24:32
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H8401 teben (in 16 vv), H4554 miçpôwʼ (in 5 vv — rare), H7272 regel (in 230 vv), H3885 lûwn (in 78 vv). The rare H4554 supports a real verbal touchpoint, but the link as a whole is a shared hospitality formula rather than a quotation, so we tier it structural. Cambridge and Ellicott both cite Genesis 24 here.
Twice the old man calls the demand נְבָלָה (H5039), and Ellicott explains the apparent mildness of "folly" as deliberate rhetoric: "It is from no deficiency of moral indignation that the word 'folly' ( nebalah ) is used. Sometimes when crime is too dark and deadly for ordinary reproach the feelings are more deeply expressed by using a milder word." Cambridge gives the legal range — "it implies moral insensibility, repudiation of the claims of morality and religion, particularly, in this phrase, an outrage against the laws of nature, Jdg 20:6; Jdg 20:10, Genesis 34:7, Deuteronomy 22:21, 2 Samuel 13:12" — and K&D the same list. Deuteronomy 22:21 is the statute that uses both nebâlâh and zânâh, the two words this chapter opened and closed on.
Deuteronomy 22:21 · Genesis 34:7
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H2181 zânâh (in 83 vv) and H5291 naʻărâh (in 57 vv) with Deuteronomy 22:21 — a real lexical overlap within a shared legal vocabulary, not a citation. The nebâlâh (H5039) cross-reference set is supplied by named commentary (Cambridge, K&D, Ellicott), not by the Verifier's computed basis.
The Verifier's strongest same-book candidates are Judges 20:4-6, where the Levite tells the assembly what happened, repeating פִּילֶגֶשׁ three times. Cambridge notices the discrepancy: in 20:5 "the Levite does not allude to the particular crime mentioned in the text as it stands, but declares that the men of Gibeah wanted to slay him," and judges that "the inconsistency may be more apparent than real." ⚙ The witness edits. He reports that they meant to kill him, and omits that he handed her out through the door himself. This is not a contradiction to be smoothed; it is characterisation, and the book lets it stand without comment.
Judges 20:4 · Judges 20:5 · Judges 20:6
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H6370 pîylegesh (in 35 vv, three occurrences in the pair) and H3881 Lêvîyîy (in 263 vv). Continuous narrative within one book, so the overlap is expected and cannot bear a quotation claim.
Ellicott, Barnes, JFB, Poole, Cambridge and K&D all put 1 Samuel 11:7 beside this verse; Cambridge goes furthest — "The same words in 1 Samuel 11:7, possibly implying that the present description has been copied from the other" — but immediately separates the senses: "Saul's summons was intended to convey a threat, the Levite's to call forth horror." K&D adds the extra-biblical parallel from Lucian's Toxaris, the Scythian who "cut an ox in pieces and sent it round." ⚙ Note what the parallel costs: Saul cut up oxen; the Levite cut up his wife. That Gibeah is also Saul's own town (Ellicott: "This is the 'Gibeah of Saul,' where the first king of Israel was born") is a coincidence the book of Samuel will not let the reader forget.
1 Samuel 11:7
basis: Basis is named commentary attestation, not a Verifier lexeme match — 1 Samuel 11:7 did not appear in the computed thread candidates for this unit. Cambridge ("The same words in 1 Samuel 11:7"), K&D, Barnes, JFB, Poole and Ellicott all record the parallel; direction of dependence is disputed, so no quotation claim is made.
The Verifier's top-scoring candidates are 1 Chronicles 11:4-5, on the rare lexeme יְבוּס (H2982, in only 4 verses). But the provenance of the word itself is contested here. Cambridge: "Jebus is merely an inference from the name of the inhabitants, not a survival from prehistoric times," and reports that "Lagrange indeed thinks … the text originally read Jerusalem in Jdg 19:10-11, and that Jebus is due to a copyist." JFB independently judges the explanatory note "which is Jerusalem" a later insertion: "must have been inserted by Ezra or some later hand." ⚙ We therefore flag rather than affirm: the lexical link is real in the received text, but the received text at this point is precisely what several named authorities question.
1 Chronicles 11:4 · 1 Chronicles 11:5
basis: Verifier: shared rare Hebrew lexeme H2982 Yᵉbûwç (in 4 vv) plus H2983 Yᵉbûwçîy (in 39 vv). Flagged because the reading "Jebus" in Judges 19:10-11 is itself disputed (Cambridge, citing Lagrange) and the explanatory gloss "which is Jerusalem" is judged a later insertion by JFB — so the word grounding the link may not be original.
Ellicott writes that "the intense horror excited by this scene of infamy lasted for centuries afterwards," citing Hosea 9:9 and Hosea 10:9; Gill and Cambridge cite the same. But Cambridge then withdraws the certainty: "The Targum on Hosea 10:9, however, interprets 'the days of Gibeah' as referring to the setting up of the kingdom in Gibeah in the time of Saul; and some modern scholars accept this view," and adds, "It is not necessary to suppose that Hosea based his allusion on the present narrative; the tradition which he knew may have differed in some respects." ⚙ The allusion is very likely to this chapter, and we do not claim more than that.
Hosea 9:9 · Hosea 10:9
basis: No Verifier lexeme basis: the link rests on the phrase "the days of Gibeah" as read by named commentators (Ellicott, Gill, Cambridge). Flagged because Cambridge records a live dispute over the referent — the Targum and some modern scholars read Hosea's "Gibeah" of Saul's kingship rather than of this outrage.
⚙ A figural reading, offered as novel and as testable. Israel's founding night is a night when a destroyer walks a town, and every household that marks its doorway is passed over; the people inside are told not to go out of the door until morning (Exodus 12:22-23). Judges 19 stages the same night and inverts every term. The destroyer is not outside the covenant but inside the tribe; the door is not marked but battered; and the one who goes out of it does not choose to — she is put out. She dies with her hands on הַסַּף, the threshold, the very timber on which deliverance was once written. Ellicott sees the gesture as "one last agony of appeal." ⚙ The chapter that measures its own horror against "the day the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt" (v. 30) ends with a woman lying dead on the only piece of architecture that the Exodus ever made holy. No commentator in this brief draws the connection, and we do not claim the narrator intended it; we claim only that the Hebrew puts her hands there and tells us so.
Exodus 12:22-23
basis: Novel, not ancient or widely-held: no commentator in this unit's sources draws the link, and the Verifier returns no shared-lexeme basis for the pair. The reading rests on two data the text does supply — the threshold (H5592 çaph) under her hands in v. 27, and the unit's own appeal to the Exodus in v. 30 — and is offered as a figural reading to be tested, not as authorial intent.
בְּלִיַּעַל here is a common noun. Ellicott: "It is only by a deeply-rooted misconception that Belial is written with a capital … but an ordinary noun, 'sons of worthlessness'." Cambridge traces the later history: "In the N.T. Belial has become a synonym for Satan, 2 Corinthians 6:15, and in this sense the word is used in apocalyptic literature." ⚙ This is a link of reception, not of vocabulary: no shared Strong's number can exist between a Hebrew noun and a Greek transliteration, and the tier records that limit. The point worth keeping is the one Ellicott makes — at Gibeah the evil has no supernatural author to blame. It is just men of the city, worth nothing.
2 Corinthians 6:15 · Deuteronomy 13:14
basis: Cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew): shared Strong's numbers are impossible in principle, so no verbal tier is available. The basis is the lexical-reception history recorded by named commentary (Ellicott; Cambridge, citing 2 Corinthians 6:15 and the apocalyptic literature), plus the Hebrew usage-set at Deuteronomy 13:14 supplied by Ellicott, Cambridge and K&D.
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
Gill makes the connection explicitly at v. 1, and it is his, not ours: the Levite of chapters 17-18 came from Bethlehem and "was the means of spreading idolatry in Israel; and here a wicked concubine of a Levite comes from the same, and was the cause of great effusion of blood in Israel; which two instances may seem to reflect dishonour and disgrace on Bethlehem, which were wiped off by the birth of some eminent persons in it, as Boaz, Jesse, David, and especially the Messiah." Pulpit notes the same town's standing high place and "the annual sacrifice at Bethlehem which existed in David's time." ⚙ The book of Ruth is set in these same days (Ruth 1:1) and in this same town, and the canon puts the two stories side by side on purpose: one Bethlehem woman is taken, used and dismembered in a land with no king; another Bethlehem household redeems a widow and produces one. Micah names the town as the origin of the ruler of Israel; Matthew records the birth there. The judgement of Judges 19 is not the last word about Bethlehem, and the last word is a person.
Ruth 1:1 · Micah 5:2 · Matthew 2:1
Cambridge supplies the decisive lexical fact: וַיְנַתְּחֶהָ is "the regular term for cutting up a sacrificial victim, Exodus 29:17, Leviticus 1:6; Leviticus 1:12, 1 Kings 18:23; 1 Kings 18:33." Barnes calls the knife "the knife," the altar-and-kitchen implement of Genesis 22:6, 10. K&D calls the sending "a symbolical act, by which the crime committed upon the murdered woman was placed before the eyes of the whole nation, to summon it." ⚙ Here is the reading, and it is offered as a novel one, to be tested and rejected if it will not hold: the chapter ends with a broken body, divided, distributed through the twelve tribes, and a summons that says look at this, decide, speak — and it is a sacrilege, because the victim was innocent and unwilling, and because the man who broke her was the man who was meant to protect her. The Gospel account of a body broken and given, divided among twelve, with the words "this do in remembrance of me," stands over against it as its exact inversion: the priest and the victim are the same person, and He is not taken but gives Himself. ⚙ We claim no typology that the ancient commentators here assert; Judges offers no promise, and the resemblance runs by contrast, not by prefiguring.
Leviticus 1:6 · Luke 22:19 · 1 Corinthians 11:24
Barnes, at v. 23, refuses the usual consolation and says what the chapter costs: both this scene and Genesis 19 "betray painfully the low place in the social scale occupied by woman in the old world, from which it is one of the glories of Christianity to have raised her." JFB: "Both men ought to have protected the women in the house, even though at the expense of their lives." Ellicott: "There is something terribly repulsive in the selfishness which could thus make a Levite sacrifice a defenceless woman." ⚙ The Levite bought his own safety by putting someone else outside the door into the hands of a mob, and then survived to demand justice. The Gospel reverses every term of that transaction: the one who could have stayed inside goes out — "Let these go their way" — and is taken in the place of those He is protecting, and it is the guard and the crowd who survive. Hebrews locates the death deliberately outside the gate, in the place where this woman died. ⚙ Read against Judges 19, Golgotha is not merely a death; it is the undoing of the specific sin of a man who would not open his own door.
John 18:8 · Hebrews 13:12
The chapter's frame is Gill's reading of the refrain: there was no supreme magistrate, "and this is observed, as before, to account for wickedness being committed with impunity." Pulpit describes the resulting vacuum precisely: "There must have been a fearful absence of all law and order and government when such deeds could be done without any interference on the part of magistrate or elder or ruler of any kind." ⚙ Judges diagnoses without curing. Its closing chapters are an argument for kingship that the books of Samuel take up and that the prophets extend past every human king who fails it, to one who "shall not judge after the sight of his eyes" but shall judge the poor with righteousness. Gibeah is the town of Israel's first king; it is also the town where Israel's need of a better one is written in a woman's blood on a threshold.
Judges 21:25 · Isaiah 11:3-4
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
⚙ Honest limits on this unit. Text. Three places in these thirty verses are genuinely unsettled, and the synthesis has not resolved any of them. (1) v. 2 וַתִּזְנֶה: the Masoretic Text says she played the harlot; Cambridge reports LXX cod. A reading "was angry with him" and Moore's conjecture of a two-letter transposition; Gill records the Targum's "she despised him." Our literal rendering follows the Hebrew we have and flags the dispute rather than adopting the emendation. (2) v. 3 לַהֲשִׁיבוֹ: Kethiv masculine ("bring back his/its heart," defended by K&D) against Qere feminine ("bring her back," preferred by Pulpit and printed by BSB). (3) v. 18 בֵּית יְהוָה: Cambridge argues "the last letter of bêthî = my house was taken as the initial of the divine name Yahweh," and that "There is nothing in the context to suggest that the Levite was going to Shiloh"; K&D argues on syntactic grounds for "I walk at the house of Jehovah," i.e. "I am a Levite in its service"; Benson, Poole, Barnes, Gill and Pulpit read it as a destination. Ellicott lays out all three. The English of BSB takes one road; we have marked the fork. Sources. Eleven public-domain commentators are available for this unit, but not evenly: the Matthew Henry entry attached to every verse here is his note on Judges 17:7-13 and does not comment on this chapter at all, so it has not been quoted; Barnes and Poole have several verses with no entry or with a note repeated from an earlier verse. Where an author speaks to a neighbouring verse rather than the one quoted, we have not moved his words. Dates and distances (Bethlehem to Jerusalem "about six miles," Gibeah at Tell el-Fûl, Ramah at er-Râm) come from Gill, JFB, Cambridge, Pulpit and K&D and are their identifications, not ours; Cambridge disputes the antiquity of the name Jebus outright. Source criticism. Cambridge's analysis of vv. 5-9 as a conflation of two documents, and of v. 24 as a secondary addition modelled on Genesis 19:8, is reported because it is a named scholar's reasoned judgement, not endorsed; the unit's readings do not depend on it. What no source settles. Whether the woman consented to being put outside (Gill relays Ben Gersom and Abarbinel, and Josephus, in conflicting directions), whether the Levite knew she was dead before he spoke to her, and whether v. 30's closing imperatives are the Levite's message or the hearers' reply (Pulpit and Cambridge divide; Cambridge would restore a longer text from LXX cod. A). ⚙ The chapter does not tell us her name, and no commentator can supply it.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)