Judges, Chapter 19:
publicidad
Verses from Judges, Chapter 19 of the book of Judges in the Bible.
The Levite and his concubine
- 1. At that time, there was no king in Israel. It happened that a Levite who lived in the mountains of Ephraim, in a remote region, took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
- 2. But the concubine was unfaithful to him and abandoned him, returning to her father's house in Bethlehem in Judah. Four months passed,
- 3. and her husband decided to go and get her. He took with him his servant and two donkeys. The woman took him into her father's house, and when her father saw him, he was happy.
- 4. His father-in-law convinced him to stay there, and he stayed with them for three days, eating, drinking and resting.
- 5. On the fourth day, they got up early and the Levite prepared to leave. But the girl's father said to his son-in-law, “Eat something before you go, and then you can leave.”
- 6. The two sat down to eat and drink together. But the girl’s father said, “I pray you stay tonight and rejoice.”
- 7. And when the man got up to leave, his father-in-law persuaded him to stay another night.
- 8. On the morning of the fifth day, as he prepared to leave, the girl's father said, “Let's eat more! Wait until the afternoon!” And the two ate together.
- 9. Then, when the man, his concubine and his servant got up to leave, the girl's father said once again: “See, the day is almost over, it is almost night. Spend the night here, stay and rejoice. Tomorrow morning you can get up and go home.”
- 10. Not wishing to stay another night, the man set out toward Jebus, also known as Jerusalem, with two saddled donkeys and his concubine.
- 11. When they were near Jebus and the day was ending, the servant said to his master, “Let us stop at this city of the Jebusites and spend the night here.”
- 12. But his master replied, “No, we will not enter a foreign city whose people are not Israelites. Let’s go to Gibeah.”
- 13. And he added, “Let us continue on to Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of these places.”
- 14. So they went on, and the sun set when they were near Gibeah, which belonged to the tribe of Benjamin.
- 15. They entered the city to spend the night and sat down in the square. But no one invited them to stay at their house.
- 16. That night an old man, who came from the mountains of Ephraim and was living in Gibeah, which was inhabited by Benjamites, was returning from his work in the field.
- 17. When he saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going? Where do you come from?"
- 18. The traveler replied: “We are on a journey, going from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote region in the mountains of Ephraim, where I live. I went to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the sanctuary of the Lord. But no one welcomed us into their home here.
- 19. We have straw and fodder for our donkeys, and for us, your servants, we have bread and wine, for me, for your servant, and for the young man who is with us. We lack nothing.”
- 20. “You are welcome in my home,” said the elderly man. “I will take care of you in whatever you need. Don’t spend the night in the square.”
- 21. Then he took them to his house, fed the donkeys, and after washing their feet, they ate and drank something.
- 22. While they were having fun, some wicked men from the city surrounded the house. They knocked on the door and shouted to the elderly man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who broke into your house so we can bond with him!”
- 23. But the owner of the house came out and said, “Don’t be so evil, my friends. Since this man is my guest, don't do this madness.
- 24. See, here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them to you, and you can use them and do with them whatever you wish. But don’t do anything to this man, don’t commit such wickedness!”
- 25. However, the men would not listen. Then the Levite took his concubine and handed her over to them, and they raped and abused her all night. At dawn, they let her go.
- 26. When the day was getting light, the woman returned to the house where her master was staying. She fell at the entrance of the house and remained there until dawn.
- 27. When his master got up in the morning, he opened the door of the house and went out to continue his journey, and there was his concubine lying at the entrance of the house, with her hands on the doorstep.
- 28. He said to her, “Get up, let’s go!” But there was no response. So he put her on his donkey and went home.
- 29. When he arrived home, he took a knife and cut his concubine's body into twelve pieces, sending one piece to each tribe of Israel.
- 30. Everyone who saw this said, “There has never been anything like this in Israel since the day the Israelites left Egypt. Think about it, decide and speak!”
