Judges 19

A Levite goes after his unfaithful slavewife

1

And it was, in those days, and no king was there in Israel, and there was a man, a Levite, sojourning in the thighs¹ of the mountainland of Ephraim, and he took to him a woman, a slavewife,² from Beth-Lehem Yehudah.³

2

And his slavewife whored upon him⁴ and went from him unto the house of her father, unto Beth-Lehem Yehudah, and was there the days of four ‹new moons›.⁵

3

And her man rose and went after her to speak upon her heart,⁶ to ‹turn her back›, and his lad with him, and a pair⁷ of asses; and she ‹brought him into› the house of her father, and he saw him—the father of the lass—and he rejoiced to meet him.

4

And his father-in-law gripped onto him—the father of the lass—and he dwelt with him three days, and they ate and ·they drank⁸ and ·they overnighted⁹ there.

A hindersome father-in-law

5

And it was in the fourth day, and they ‹shouldered up› in the morning, and he rose to go, and the father of the lass said unto his son-in-law, “Buttress¹⁰ thine heart with a morsel of bread,¹¹ and afterward ye shall go.”¹²

6

And they dwelt¹³ and ·they ate, the two of them together, and ·they drank, and the father of the lass said unto the man, “Be pleased, pray, and overnight,¹⁴ and let thine heart be good.”¹⁵

7

And the man rose to go, and his father-in-law pressed¹⁶ on him, and he ‹turned back› and overnighted there.

8

And he ‹shouldered up› in the morning in the fifth day, to go, and the father of the lass said, “Buttress thine heart, pray.” And they dallied¹⁷ until the ‹stretching out›¹⁸ of the day, and they ate, the two of them.

9

And the man rose to go, he and his slavewife and his lad, and his father-in-law said to him—the father of the lass—“Lo, pray, the day slackeneth to ‹become evening›; overnight ·thee, pray. Lo, the day encampeth;¹⁹ overnight here and let thine heart be good; and ‹shoulder up› tomorrow to your²⁰ way,²¹ and go thou to thy tent.”

A late departure

10

And the man wanted not to overnight, and ·he rose and ·he went, and ‹came in› until before Yebus (it is Jerusalem), and with him the pair of asses strapped,²² and his slavewife with him.

11

They were with Yebus, and the day was very descended,²³ and the lad said unto his lord, “Come ·thee, pray, and let us ‹turn aside› unto this city of the Yebusite, and overnight in it.”

12

And his lord said unto him, “We shall not ‹turn aside› hither,²⁴ unto a foreign²⁵ city that is not from the sons of Israel; and we shall cross unto Gibeah.”²⁶

13

And he said to his lad, “Come ·thee, and we shall draw near into one of the places and overnight in Gibeah or in Ramah.”

An inhospitable city

14

And they crossed,²⁷ and ·they went, and the sun ‹went in› for them beside the Gibeah²⁸ that is for Benyamin,

15

and they ‹turned aside› there to ‹go in› to overnight in Gibeah, and he ‹went in› and dwelt²⁹ in the broad place³⁰ of the city; and there was no man gathering them into the house³¹ to overnight.

A hospitable old man

16

And lo, an old man ‹came in› from his work,³² from the field, in the evening; and the man was from the mountainland of Ephraim, and he sojourned in Gibeah, and the men of the place were Benyamites.

17

And he ‹bore up› his eyes and ·he saw the man wayfaring³³ in the broad place of the city, and the old man said, “Wither goest thou, and whence ‹comest thou in›?”

18

And he said unto him, “We are crossing from Beth-Lehem Yehudah unto the thighs of the mountainland of Ephraim; I am from there, and I went unto Beth-Lehem Yehudah; and to the house of Yahweh I am going,³⁴ and there is no man gathering me into the house.

19

And ‹there is›³⁵ even³⁶ straw, also fodder³⁷ for our asses, and also bread and wine ‹there is› for me, and for thy sheslave, and for the lad with thy servants—no lack³⁸ of any thing.”

20

And the old man said, “Shalom³⁹ to thee—only, all thou lackest⁴⁰ is upon me; only, in the broad place let thou not overnight.”⁴¹

21

And he ‹brought him in› to his house, and mixed feed⁴² for the asses, and they washed⁴³ their feet and ·they ate and ·they drank.

The men of the city assault the house

22

They were making their heart good,⁴⁴ and lo, the men of the city, men, sons of worthlessness,⁴⁵ surrounded the house, battering⁴⁶ upon the door, and ·they said unto the man, the master⁴⁷ of the house, the old one,⁴⁸ to say, “‹Bring forth› the man that ‹came in› unto thine house, and we shall know him.”⁴⁹

23

And the man, the master of the house, ‹went forth› unto them, and ·he said unto them, “No my brothers, do not badness,⁵⁰ pray; after that this man is ‹come in› unto my house, worketh⁵¹ not this folly.⁵²

24

Lo, my daughter the virgin,⁵³ and his slavewife; I shall ‹send forth› them, pray, and ye abase⁵⁴ them, and work ·ye unto them the good in your eyes; and unto this man work not this thing of folly.”

The slavewife is sacrificed

25

And the men wanted not to hearken to him, and the man⁵⁵ gripped onto⁵⁶ his slavewife and ‹brought her forth› unto them outside,⁵⁷ and they knew her and ·they plied⁵⁸ in her all the night until the morning, and they ‹sent her forth› as the dawn ascended.⁵⁹

26

And the woman ‹came in› unto the facing of the morning,⁶⁰ and ·she fell at the opening of the house of the man, that had her lord there, until the light.

27

And her lord rose in the morning and opened the doors of the house, and ‹went forth› to go to his way—and lo, the woman, his slavewife fallen at the opening of the house, and her hands upon the threshold.

The Levite’s response

28

And he said unto her, “Rise ·thou and let us go.”⁶¹ And there was no answer.⁶² And he took her upon the ass, and the man rose and went to his place,

29

and he ‹came in› unto his house, and took the eating-knife⁶³ and gripped his slavewife and dismembered⁶⁴ her to her bones, for twelve members,⁶⁵ and ‹sent her forth› in all the border of Israel.

30

And it was, everyone who saw it, that he said, “There has been not and seen not⁶⁶ as unto this, from the day the sons of Israel ascended from the land of Egypt until this day. Set ye upon it, deliberate⁶⁷ and speak.”

thighs (yerekhah). I.e., the least accessible area. This can refer to the farthest part of a place, though we must then ask, farthest from where? It is also used to refer to the innermost parts of a place, as in 1 Sam 24:3, “the thighs of the cave.” ↩
slavewife (pilegesh). See note on Jdg 8:31. ↩
Beth-Lehem Yehudah. Or “the house of bread in Yehudah.” So throughout the passage. ↩
whored upon him. LXX A says “became angry with him,” and LXX B merely, “left him.” I find this remarkable given that the slavewife in this story is clearly symbolic of Israel. This is why too much stock should not be put in the LXX. ↩
was there the days of four new moons. I have somewhat smoothed this out to reflect what I take the text to be expressing. Lit. “was there days, four new moons.” A new moon, of course, is a month; 29 or 30 days. If we count the months as round numbers, then this would be 120 days. ↩
to speak upon her heart. Or “to have a word upon her heart.” ↩
pair (tzemed). A rare word that generally implies two animals paired or coupled by a yoke. Hence some translations, “team;” but the word really does denote only two. I have chosen “pair” because this better implies a team, whereas “couple” sounds more haphazard, and perhaps falsely suggests a mating pair. ↩
drank (shatah). The same root gives us mishteh, “drinking party,” in Gen 19:3, which is only the second time the word appears in scripture. ↩
overnighted (lun). Cf. Jdg 18:2. Or “lodge,” but this word is related to layala, night, and refers specifically to remaining somewhere for the night, and as a noun, to a place where one does so. Since “overnight” can be used as both a verb and a noun, this is the best option in English. The head of this word is Gen 19:2, where it is used twice. ↩
buttress (s’ad). I.e., support, sustain. “Bolster” gets at the idea well, but in other places seems less appropriate due to the connotation of cushioning (e.g., Ps 18:35; Isa 9:7). This is a rare word in scripture; hence my use of an unusual word in English. The only other use prior to Judges 19 is Gen 18:5. ↩
a morsel of bread. The same phrase used in Gen 18:5, which is the first place that “morsel” (pat) appears in scripture. Obviously “morsel” is polite understatement; in Genesis 18, Abraham prepares a feast, and here in Judges, they seem to spend most of their time eating. ↩
he rose to go…afterward ye shall go. This story repeats the pattern of two previous events in the lives of Israel’s patriarchs, both of which threatened the promised seed. The first is Genesis 24, where we read that after Eliezer secures Rebkah for Itzhac’s wife, “they ate and they drank, he and the men that were with him, and they overnighted, and they rose in the morning, and he said, ‘Send me forth to my lord.’ And her brother and her mother said, ‘Let the lass dwell with us some days—or ten. Afterwards she shall go.’ And he said unto them, ‘Make me not get behind, and Yahweh hath advanced my way. Send me forth, and I shall go to my lord’” (Gen 24:54–56). The second is Genesis 30, a much more drawn-out tale, where Laban tries to grip onto Ya’acob, preventing him from forming his own household (cf. Gen 2:24). This story, too, is initiated by the man of God demanding to be freed from the serpent’s weaponized hospitality in order to properly leave and cleave and build up a house for God: “And it was, as that Rahel had begotten Yoseph, and Ya’acob said unto Laban, ‘Send me forth and I shall go unto my place, and to my land. Give my women and my children, for whom I have served thee, and I shall go, in that thou knowest my service that I have served thee’” (Gen 30:25–26). ↩
dwelt (yashav). In Hebrew, this is a very general word, and frequently refers simply to sitting. However, it carries the implication of remaining in a place. ↩
be pleased, pray, and overnight. The sense is “be pleased to overnight;” Hebrew uses “and” much more flexibly than is natural in English. ↩
let thine heart be good. Cf. Jdg 18:20. ↩
pressed (patzar). Or “pressured.” This is a rare word in scripture, but significantly, its first two uses are in Genesis 19:3, 9. If the same root is used in 1 Sam 13:21 of metal files, we might say, “his father-in-law was adamant with him.” ↩
dallied (mahah). Or even, in British English, “dithered.” This is another rare word, evidently from mah, meaning “what?” The implication is thus of hesitating from uncertainty. This, too, is used in the Sodom narrative to refer to Lot’s lingering, such that he has to be dragged out of the city by the angels (Gen 19:16). In Jdg 3:26 it is also used of Eglon’s guards’ ineffectual dithering, which allowed Ehud to escape. Curiously, the LXX says “campaign” or “march,” which is interesting due to the odd use of “encamp” in verse 9. ↩
stretching out (natah). Cf. Jdg 9:3. ↩
encampeth (hanah). Nearly every other use of this extremely common word refers to an army encamping, and nowhere else is it used like this. The day’s end is thus depicted as an enemy force coming against the Levite, with ominous overtones for what will happen come night. ↩
your. The Hebrew construct is plural here. ↩
shoulder up…to your way. A similar phrase occurs in Genesis 19:2, where the term “shoulder up” is used for the first time in scripture, as Lot advises the angels on leaving Sodom early the next morning. ↩
strapped (chavash). Trad. “saddled,” but the word is used in this way only of donkeys, which are more often strapped with a load than ridden. The other uses in scripture are always for something bound up or wrapped (e.g., Ex 28:8; Job 40:13; Ps 147:3). ↩
descended (yarad). Alt. “spread out.” It is not clear if the root is yarad or radad here. If radad, the image is perhaps of the day being spread out thinly, as gold upon the cherubs (1 Ki 6:32), or beneath the night as people beneath a king’s feet (Ps 144:2), or perhaps as a mantle or veil that has nearly fully enclosed the wearer (Song 5:7; Isa 3:23). I suspect all of these images are intended, plus the image of descent thanks to the ambiguous conjugation. ↩
hither (hennah). I.e., “to here.” In the Hebrew, this is at the end of the clause, but in English this is very awkward and makes an already unfamiliar term even harder to parse. ↩
foreign (nakhar). Cf. Jdg 18:3. ↩
Gibeah. “Hill.” Gibeah was later Saul’s base of operations. ↩
crossed (’abar). Or “passed on,” but this is a pregnant and significant term, especially in Judges, where its head is Jdg 2:20, and is thereafter closely associated with covenantal warfare. ↩
the Gibeah. Most translations omit the definite article, but in this case, it seems placed so as to deliberately distinguish this Gibeah from ==another.== ↩
dwelt (yashav). Or, again, “sat.” ↩
broad place (rechov). From the same root as used in Jdg 18:10. This is the open plaza or city square, but to translate it more dynamically would obliterate the connection to this prior passage. Again, the first instance of this word in scripture is Genesis 19:2, where the angels say they will overnight in the broad place of Sodom. ↩
the house (habeyt). As in verse 18, the construction is singular and definite. The Hebrew notably does not say that no man was gathering them into his house. Thus the city is a collective house, and bears collective responsibility. ↩
work (ma’aseh). This word shares the same root as the “work” that the Gibeahites want to do in verses 23–24. Cf. Jdg 13:12. ↩
wayfaring (arach). The same root as used in Jdg 5:6 of the “ways.” It is a rare word in narrative, but common in Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah. ↩
to the house of Yahweh I am going. LXX A and B say rather, “to my home.” I suspect this is significant, because it is glossing the meaning of the Hebrew: we are meant to interpret this symbolically. The Levite is most naturally taken as speaking of going back to his own house, rather than the house of God in Shiloh, but because he is a Levite, his house is God’s house. This is a prophetic fulfillment of Gen 24:56: “Send me forth, and I shall go to my lord.’” Unfortunately, the Levite lacks the willing obedience of Eleazer, and is now late in returning to his Lord—which is symbolic of why Israel is in the state that it’s in, and of what is about to happen to the bride. Note also that in Genesis 24, the hospitality goes both ways: Eliezer brings gifts of gold trappings and precious things to the house of Rebkah. In this story, the Levite is a leech who contributes nothing; his father-in-law provides all the food, and presumably also the wine and bread described in verse 19. See also note on verse 5. ↩
there is (yesh). Twice in this verse; see note on Jdg 18:14. ↩
even (gam). Literally “also,” but here it has the sense of intensifying the insult of being left in the plaza—he can provide everything for his party, and would be no imposition on anyone. All they need is a roof over their heads. ↩
straw, also fodder (teven gam mispo). The head of this phrase is Genesis 24:25, where Rebkah offers hospitality to Eliezer as he is received into their house. However, the straw and fodder is then provided by Laban, her brother (Genesis 24:32)—the same man who later detains Ya’acob in a similar way to the father-in-law of the Levite. ↩
lack (machsor). Another word used in the Sodom narrative: Genesis 18:28. ↩
Shalom. I leave this untranslated, as here is a prime example of how it means more than mere peace implies in English; the old man is offering and affirming to fill out what the Levite is lacking; to make him whole. ↩
lackest. The Hebrew form is nominal, but “all thy lacks” or “all thy lackings” seems unnecessarily awkward compared to simply using a verb instead. ↩
only, in the broad place let thou not overnight. Here the limits of English translation are especially apparent. Dynamically, “just don’t spend the night in the plaza.” The Hebrew is in the jussive, indicating a polite exhortation rather than an imperative; the man is really pleading with the Levite by way of warning, as much as protesting hospitality to him. ↩
mixed feed (balal). Or “mingled.” The verb is to mix or mingle or confuse. The head is Genesis 11:7, 9 (from which we get “Babel”). There is no object supplied for the verb, though this may be normal in Hebrew; I am not sure. I’m also not sure whether this word has some special significance; it is elsewhere associated with donkeys at times (Job 6:5; Isa 30:24), but its vast majority of uses before Judges 19 is in Leviticus and Numbers, where it refers to the mixing of oil with sacrificial flour, particularly for the tribute (trad. “meal offering”) which called to God’s remembrance his covenant at every meal (Lev 2:1–2). ↩
washed (rachatz). The head of this word is Genesis 18:4, where Abram bids God and his angels to wash their feet before they journey on to Sodom. The next use is Gen 19:2 where Lot bids the angels to come home with him and wash their feet. ↩
making their heart good. Literally “goodening their heart.” ↩
worthlessness (beli’al). Even more literally, “without benefit,” but the English term “worthlessness” gets the force of the meaning much better. ↩
battering (daphaq). A rare word, used also of driving flocks too hard in Genesis 33:13, and of the lover knocking (apparently pretty hard) in Song 5:2. ↩
master (ba’al). Cf. Jdg 9:2ff. ↩
the man, the master of the house, the old one. The Hebrew seems oddly constructed here. Old is not attached to “man” but to the end of the descriptive phrase, seeming to modify “house;” however, it functions as a noun, rather than an adjective. It does not seem to me faithful to what is written to say, “the old man, the master of the house.” For some reason, the oldness is more emphasized than that. ↩
and we shall know him. Or, “that we may know him.” ↩
do not badness. The Hebrew is a single verbal form of ra’a, “bad.” ↩
worketh (’asah). I generally translate this as “do” or “make,” but the latter makes no sense here, and the former too weakly indicates what is being said, on account of “do” being a generic verb in English. For instance, in the previous clause it is added to “verbify” the otherwise nominal “badness.” Hence I say “work” here and verse 24. ↩
folly (nvalah). The LXX renders this “madness,” which seems appropriate given that great folly is a kind of moral insanity. His alternative, however, hardly seems any less bonkers. ↩
the virgin (ha-btulah). The text does specifically include the definite article, and given the symbolic freight of this phrase, it is perplexing that only Young seems to notice. ↩
abase (’anah). See note on Jdg 16:5. ↩
the man. I have rendered the ambiguity of the Hebrew, in that it is not clear if it was the Levite or the old man who threw out the woman to be molested. The virgin daughter notably is not thrown out despite being offered. ↩
gripped onto (chazaq). Cf. verse 4. ↩
outside (chutz). This word is elided or obscured in most translations, but it is of some import, for in combination with “brought forth” it forms the exact same nexus of words is used in Genesis 19:16–17. Note how much of the conceptual backdrop to this entire chapter is contained here: “And he dallied, and the men gripped onto his hand, and onto the hand of his woman, and onto the hand of his two daughters in the pity of Yahweh upon him, and they brought him forth, and they reposed him outside of the city, and it was, as they brought them forth outside, and he said, ‘Escape upon thy lifebreath, and gaze not after thee, and stand not in all the plain; escape to the mountain lest thou be incinerated.’” ↩
plied (’alal). See note on Jdg 2:19. ↩
as the dawn ascended. Cf. Gen 19:15. ↩
unto the facing of the morning. The Hebrew is ambiguous. To me (and apparently Alter) it reads like she is coming in toward the sunrise. However, most translations take it as her coming in at sunrise (the time that the morning faces us). Probably both meanings are intended, as there is obvious symbolic import to moving in the direction of the sunrise—the east is where Abraham was brought out of, and where Israel would die if they returned, as they do in the exile. Symbolically, the Levite is depicted as dwelling in the east, like a perishing Aramean (cf. Dt 26:5), who offers only death to the bride. ↩
Rise thou and let us go. The inflection of the verbs here cannot be readily translated without adding some words. “Rise” is imperative; “let us go” is cohortative. The sense is, “You must get up, we need to be going.” ↩
there was no answer. Lit. “none answered;” I have chosen to use an auxiliary verb and nominalize “answered” for the sake of better expressing the force in English, on account of the difference between how Hebrew and English verbs often work. ↩
the eating-knife. See note on Gen 22:10. The Hebrew here again uses the definite article. Perhaps one is supposed to wonder which knife—some Levites, as priests, would possess a knife for the purpose of dismembering animals for proper sacrifice. However, given the rarity of this word, it would appear that we are also supposed to understand this symbolically as Abraham’s knife. There has already been an indirect connection made to the institution of the covenant in Gen 15:5, through Gen 19:17 (see note there). Combining these two allusions yields a tragic inversion of the covenant devotion that God, through his angels, shows to Abraham; here the Levite-angel fails to take his covenant duties seriously, fails to protect the object of God’s covenantal devotion, and eventually therefore dismembers her in a reversal of the Akedah. ↩
dismembered (natach). Until now, this term has been used in scripture exclusively of the priestly work of correctly dividing a sacrificial animal into its respective cuts or joints (head: Ex 29:17), which I have here translated “members” in order to preserve the repetiton of the word across the sentence. ↩
members (netach). This is the nominal form of the verb just used. ↩
there has been not and seen not. The Hebrew here rhymes in a similar way: lo nehyatah, welo nir’atah. ↩
deliberate (’utz). Almost a hapax; this word is only used one other time, in Isa 8:10. ↩