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Judges 19

Judges 19 exposes Israel’s moral collapse through the violence of Gibeah and a woman’s betrayal by those who should protect her.

A Levite travels to Bethlehem to bring back his concubine from her father’s house. After several days of hospitality and delayed departures, they leave and seek lodging in Gibeah, an Israelite town. An old man takes them in, but a mob surrounds his house. The Levite hands his concubine over to them, and they rape and abuse her through the night. He finds her unresponsive at the doorway, takes her home, and dismembers her, sending the pieces throughout Israel.

injustice and angersermon or Bible study notes
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1In those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite living on the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim, who took for himself a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah.
2His concubine played the prostitute against him, and went away from him to her father’s house to Bethlehem Judah, and was there for four months.
3Her husband arose and went after her to speak kindly to her, to bring her again, having his servant with him and a couple of donkeys. She brought him into her father’s house; and when the father of the young lady saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.
5On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning, and he rose up to depart. The young lady’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward you shall go your way.”
6So they sat down, ate, and drank, both of them together. Then the young lady’s father said to the man, “Please be pleased to stay all night, and let your heart be merry.”
9When the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the young lady’s father, said to him, “Behold, now the day draws toward evening, please stay all night. Behold, the day is ending. Stay here, that your heart may be merry; and tomorrow go on your way early, that you may go home.”
10But the man wouldn’t stay that night, but he rose up and went near Jebus (also called Jerusalem). With him were a couple of saddled donkeys. His concubine also was with him.
11When they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, “Please come and let’s enter into this city of the Jebusites, and stay in it.”
13He said to his servant, “Come and let’s draw near to one of these places; and we will lodge in Gibeah, or in Ramah.”
15They went over there, to go in to stay in Gibeah. He went in, and sat down in the street of the city; for there was no one who took them into his house to stay.
16Behold, an old man came from his work out of the field at evening. Now the man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites.
17He lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”
18He said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem Judah to the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem Judah. I am going to the LORD’s house; and there is no one who has taken me into his house.
20The old man said, “Peace be to you! Just let me supply all your needs, but don’t sleep in the street.”
21So he brought him into his house, and gave the donkeys fodder. Then they washed their feet, and ate and drank.
22As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain wicked fellows, surrounded the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we can have sex with him!”
23The man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, “No, my brothers, please don’t act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, don’t do this folly.
24Behold, here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them what seems good to you; but to this man don’t do any such folly.”
25But the men wouldn’t listen to him; so the man grabbed his concubine, and brought her out to them; and they had sex with her, and abused her all night until the morning. When the day began to dawn, they let her go.
26Then the woman came in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her lord was, until it was light.
28He said to her, “Get up, and let’s get going!” but no one answered. Then he took her up on the donkey; and the man rose up, and went to his place.
29When he had come into his house, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel.
30It was so, that all who saw it said, “Such a deed has not been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day! Consider it, take counsel, and speak.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Judges 19:1The opening places this account within Israel’s kingless days, framing a household’s story within the nation’s disorder.
Judges 19:6The father’s generous hospitality prolongs the visit and stands in stark contrast to the violence awaiting his daughter in Gibeah.
Judges 19:22The mob’s demand turns a scene of hospitality into threatened sexual violence within an Israelite town.
Where this chapter reaches

Genesis shares the scene of a mob surrounding a host’s house and demanding sexual access to male guests, with women offered in their place. In 1 Samuel, Saul sends pieces of slaughtered oxen throughout Israel to summon a response, echoing the Levite’s grim message.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What contrasts do you notice between the hospitality in Bethlehem and the treatment of guests in Gibeah?

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How does the detail of the woman’s hands on the threshold shape your reading of the ending?

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Questions people ask about Judges 19

What is a concubine in Judges 19?

A concubine was a woman in a recognized marital relationship with lower status than a wife. The chapter calls the Levite her husband and her father his father-in-law. Those terms show a family bond, though the text does not explain her precise legal rights or household status.

Was the concubine dead when the Levite cut her into pieces?

Judges 19 does not state the moment of her death. After the assault, she collapses at the doorway and gives no answer when the Levite speaks. He takes her home and dismembers her. Her silence establishes that she is unresponsive; the chapter leaves her condition at that point unstated.

Does Judges 19 approve of sacrificing the women to protect the guest?

The chapter gives no divine command or approval for offering the women. The host condemns the mob’s demand against his male guest while offering his daughter and the concubine to abuse. That contradiction belongs to the horror of the account. His words provide no warrant for treating women as expendable.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).