Judg 19:16-30 | ESV | STEP | And behold , an old man was coming from his work in the field at evening . The man was from the hill country of Ephraim , and he was sojourning in Gibeah . The men of the place were Benjaminites .

16 And behold, an old man was coming from his work in the field at evening. The man was from ^athe hill country of Ephraim, and he was sojourning in Gibeah. ^bThe men of the place were Benjaminites. 17 And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city. And the old man said, “Where are you going? And where do you come from?” 18 And he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going ^cto the house of the Lord, ^{▼▼Septuagint my home; compare verse 29} ^ebut no one has taken me into his house. 19 We have straw and feed for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me and your female servant and the young man with your servants. ^fThere is no lack of anything.” 20 And the old man said, ^g“Peace be to you; I will care for all your wants. ^hOnly, do not spend the night in the square.” 21 So he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys feed. ⁱAnd they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

Gibeah’s Crime

22 As they were ^jmaking their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, ^ksurrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.” 23 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, ^ldo not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, ^mdo not do this vile thing. 24 ⁿBehold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. ^oViolate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man ^pdo not do this outrageous thing.” 25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. 26 And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was light.

27 And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up, let us be going.” ^qBut there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey, and the man rose up and went away to his home. 29 And when he entered his house, he took a knife, and taking hold of his concubine he ^rdivided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. 30 ^sAnd all who saw it said, “Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; ^tconsider it, take counsel, and speak.”