The Levite and His Concubine

191 Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was living in the inmost parts of the hill-country of Ephraim, and he got for himself a servant-wife from Beth-lehem-judah. 2 And his servant-wife was angry with him, and went away from him to her father's house at Beth-lehem-judah, and was there for four months. 3 Then her husband got up and went after her, with the purpose of talking kindly to her, and taking her back with him; he had with him his young man and two asses: and she took him into her father's house, and her father, when he saw him, came forward to him with joy. 4 And his father-in-law, the girl's father, kept him there for three days; and they had food and drink and took their rest there. 5 Now on the fourth day they got up early in the morning and he made ready to go away; but the girl's father said to his son-in-law, Take a little food to keep up your strength, and then go on your way. 6 So seating themselves they had food and drink, the two of them together; and the girl's father said to the man, If it is your pleasure, take your rest here tonight, and let your heart be glad. 7 And the man got up to go away, but his father-in-law would not let him go, so he took his rest there again for the night. 8 Then early on the morning of the fifth day he got up to go away; but the girl's father said, Keep up your strength; so the two of them had a meal, and the man and his woman and his servant did not go till after the middle of the day. 9 And when they got up to go away, his father-in-law, the girl's father, said to him, Now evening is coming on, so do not go tonight; see, the day is almost gone; take your rest here and let your heart be glad, and tomorrow early, go on your way back to your house. 10 But the man would not be kept there that night, and he got up and went away and came opposite to Jebus (which is Jerusalem); and he had with him the two asses, ready for travelling, and his woman. 11 When they got near Jebus the day was far gone; and the servant said to his master, Now let us go from our road into this town of the Jebusites and take our night's rest there. 12 But his master said to him, We will not go out of our way into a strange town, whose people are not of the children of Israel; but we will go on to Gibeah. 13 And he said to his servant, Come, let us go on to one of these places, stopping for the night in Gibeah or Ramah. 14 So they went on their way; and the sun went down when they were near Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. 15 And they went off the road there with the purpose of stopping for the night in Gibeah: and he went in, seating himself in the street of the town, for no one took them into his house for the night.

16 Now when it was evening they saw an old man coming back from his work in the fields; he was from the hill-country of Ephraim and was living in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites. 17 And when he saw the traveller in the street of the town, the old man said, Where are you going? and where do you come from? 18 And he said to him, We are on our way from Beth-lehem-judah to the inmost parts of the hill-country of Ephraim: I came from there and went to Beth-lehem-judah: now I am on my way back to my house, but no man will take me into his house. 19 But we have dry grass and food for our asses, as well as bread and wine for me, and for the woman, and for the young man with us: we have no need of anything. 20 And the old man said, Peace be with you; let all your needs be my care; only do not take your rest in the street. 21 So he took them into his house and gave the asses food; and after washing their feet they took food and drink.

22 While they were taking their pleasure at the meal, the good-for-nothing men of the town came round the house, giving blows on the door; and they said to the old man, the master of the house, Send out that man who came to your house, so that we may take our pleasure with him. 23 So the man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said, No, my brothers, do not this evil thing; this man has come into my house, and you are not to do him this wrong. 24 See, here is my daughter, a virgin, and his servant-wife: I will send them out for you to take them and do with them whatever you will. But do no such thing of shame to this man. 25 But the men would not give ear to him: so the man took his woman and sent her out to them; and they took her by force, using her for their pleasure all night till the morning; and when dawn came they let her go. 26 Then at the dawn of day the woman came, and, falling down at the door of the man's house where her master was, was stretched there till it was light. 27 In the morning her master got up, and opening the door of the house went out to go on his way; and he saw his servant-wife stretched on the earth at the door of the house with her hands on the step. 28 And he said to her, Get up and let us be going; but there was no answer; so he took her up and put her on the ass, and went on his way and came to his house. 29 And when he had come to his house, he got his knife, and took the woman, cutting her up bone by bone into twelve parts, which he sent through all Israel. 30 And he gave orders to the men whom he sent, saying, This is what you are to say to all the men of Israel, Has ever an act like this been done from the day when the children of Israel came out of Egypt to this day? Give thought to it, turning it over in your minds, and give your opinion of it.

The Nations Left to Test Israel

31 Now these are the nations which the Lord kept in the land for the purpose of testing Israel by them, all those who had had no experience of all the wars of Canaan; 2 Only because of the generations of the children of Israel, for the purpose of teaching them war—only those who up till then had no experience of it; 3 The five chiefs of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites and the Zidonians and the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from the mountain Baal-hermon as far as Hamath: 4 For the purpose of testing Israel by them, to see if they would give ear to the orders of the Lord, which he had given to their fathers by the hand of Moses. 5 Now the children of Israel were living among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: 6 And they took as wives the daughters of these nations and gave their daughters to their sons, and became servants to their gods.

Othniel Delivers Israel from Chushan-rishathaim

7 And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and put out of their minds the Lord their God, and became servants to the Baals and the Astartes.

8 So the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel were his servants for eight years. 9 And when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. 10 And the spirit of the Lord came on him and he became judge of Israel, and went out to war, and the Lord gave up Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hands and he overcame him. 11 Then for forty years the land had peace, till the death of Othniel, the son of Kenaz.

Ehud Delivers Israel from Moab

12 Then the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord made Eglon, king of Moab, strong against Israel, because they had done evil in the Lord's eyes. 13 And Eglon got together the people of Ammon and Amalek, and they went and overcame Israel and took the town of palm-trees. 14 And the children of Israel were servants to Eglon, king of Moab, for eighteen years. 15 Then when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man; and the children of Israel sent an offering by him to Eglon, king of Moab. 16 So Ehud made himself a two-edged sword, a cubit long, which he put on at his right side under his robe. 17 And he took the offering to Eglon, king of Moab, who was a very fat man. 18 And after giving the offering, he sent away the people who had come with the offering. 19 But he himself, turning back from the stone images at Gilgal, said, I have something to say to you in secret, O king. And he said, Let there be quiet. Then all those who were waiting before him went out. 20 Then Ehud came in to him while he was seated by himself in his summer-house. And Ehud said, I have a word from God for you. And he got up from his seat. 21 And Ehud put out his left hand, and took the sword from his right side, and sent it into his stomach; 22 And the hand-part went in after the blade, and the fat was joined up over the blade; for he did not take the sword out of his stomach. And he went out into the ... 23 Then Ehud went out into the covered way, shutting the doors of the summer-house on him and locking them. 24 Now when he had gone, the king's servants came, and saw that the doors of the summer-house were locked; and they said, It may be that he is in his summer-house for a private purpose. 25 And they went on waiting till they were shamed, but the doors were still shut; so they took the key, and, opening them, saw their lord stretched out dead on the floor. 26 But Ehud had got away while they were waiting and had gone past the stone images and got away to Seirah. 27 And when he came there, he had a horn sounded in the hill-country of Ephraim, and all the children of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he at their head. 28 And he said to them, Come after me; for the Lord has given the Moabites, your haters, into your hands. So they went down after him and took the crossing-places of Jordan against Moab, and let no one go across. 29 At that time they put about ten thousand men of Moab to the sword, every strong man and every man of war; not a man got away. 30 So Moab was broken that day under the hand of Israel. And for eighty years the land had peace.

Shamgar Delivers Israel from the Philistines

31 And after him came Shamgar, the son of Anath, who put to death six hundred Philistines with an ox-stick; and he was another saviour of Israel.