19 In those days when there was no king over Israel, there was a Levite man who was staying in the remotest parts of the hill country of Efraim. He took a slave-wife for himself from Bethlehem in Yehudah. 2 However, she started sleeping around, and then she left him and went to her father’s house in Bethlehem where she ended up staying for four months. 3 Then her husband got organised and went after her—to sweet-talk her and persuade her to return with him. He took a young servant man and a team of donkeys. She invited her husband into her father’s house, and when her father saw him, he was glad to meet him. 4 His father-in-law (her father) insisted on offering hospitality, so they ate and drank, and he stayed the night, and ended up staying for three days. 5 Then on the fourth day, they got up early and the Levite prepared to leave, but his father-in-law urged him to eat before they left.

6 So the two of them ate and drank together, and then the woman’s father said, “Please stay another night. Relax and have a good time.”

7 The man got ready to leave, however his father-in-law persisted, so he stayed another night there. 8 He got up early in the morning on the fifth day to get ready to leave, but the father of the young woman said, “Get some energy first.” So they waited until later in the day, and then the two of them ate.

9 When the man stood up to go with his slave-wife and his young man, his father-in-law said, “Listen, the day’s coming to an end soon. Please stay the night. See, it’ll be getting dark soon. Spend the night here and be happy. Then make an early start tomorrow for your journey home.”

10 But the man from the tribe of Levi didn’t want to stay another night. He put saddles on his two donkeys, and started to go with his slave-wife and his servant toward Yebus city (now called Yerushalem).

11 They got close to Yebus and the daylight had mostly gone, so the young man said to his master, “Come, please, we should turn aside into this city of the Jebusites so we can spend the night there.” 12 “We won’t go into a into a city of foreigners, his master replied. “There’s no Israelis there. Better to keep going until we reach Gibeah.” 13 Then he added, “Yes, let’s keep going to reach either Gibeah or Ramah to spend the night in.” 14 So they passed Yebus and went on, but the sun went down as they neared Gibeah (in Benyamite territory) 15 so they went into Gibeah to spend the night there. They went and sat in the open plaza of the city, but no one invited them into their home for the night.

16 But then in late evening, an old man came in from his work in the field. He was from the Efraimite hill country but currently staying in the Gibeah area where the residents were Benyamites. 17 He looked up and noticed them in the open plaza of the city and asked the man, “Where are you going, and where have you come from?”

18 “We’re passing through from Bethlehem in Yehudah,” the Levite replied. “Going to the remote parts of the Efraimite hill country where I’m from. I went to Bethlehem, and I’m going to Shiloh where Yahweh’s house is. However, no one here has invited us into their home. 19 We have our own food and straw for our donkeys, and enough food and wine for the three of us so we don’t need anything else.

20 “Peace to you all,” said the old man. “Let me supply everything you need—only don’t spend the night here in the square.” 21 Then he took them to his house and fed their donkeys. They washed their feet, and they all ate and drank. 22 They were having a good time, but suddenly the men of the city—wicked men—had surrounded the house—pounding repeatedly on the door. They called out to the old man who owned the house, “Hey, bring out the man who came to your place, so we can have fun with him.”[fn][ref] 23 The man who owned the house went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, please you mustn’t act wickedly. That man is a guest in my house—you all mustn’t do this disgraceful thing. 24 My virgin daughter and his slave-wife are here. Please let me bring them out so you can ravish them and do whatever you want to them. But don’t do that wicked thing to that man.” 25 But the men weren’t willing to listen to him, so the man pushed his slave-wife out to them and they raped her and abused her the whole night until the morning, when they discarded her as it began to dawn.

26 The woman managed to get herself back to the house where her master was, and collapsed at the entrance until it got light. 27 When her master got up and he opened the door to go and continue on his trip, look, his slave-wife had fallen at the entrance and her hands were on the threshold. 28 “Get up,” he told her. “Let’s go.” But she didn’t answer, so he put her on his donkey and headed home. 29 When he arrived, he got a knife and hacked his wife’s body into twelve pieces (including the bones), and he sent them to various places spread across all of Israel’s territory. 30 Then everyone who saw a piece said, “Nothing has ever happened like this before—we’ve never seen anything like this from the time that the Israelis left Egypt until now. What do we need to do about it? Speak up and make a plan.”