World English Bible · The judges
Judges 19
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In those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain living on the farther side of the hill country of , who took for himself a out of Judah. against him, and went away from him to her house to Judah, and was there for four months. Her 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 house; and when of the young lady saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. 4His -in-law, the young lady's , kept him there; and he stayed with him three days. So they ate and drank, and stayed there. On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning, and he rose up to depart. The young lady's said to his son-in-law, "Strengthen with a morsel of bread, and afterward you shall go your way." So they sat down, ate, and drank, both of them together. Then the young lady's said to the man, "Please be pleased to stay all night, and let be merry." 7The man rose up to depart; but his -in-law urged him, and he stayed there again. 8He arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart; and the young lady's said, "Please strengthen and stay until the day declines;" and they both ate. When the man rose up to depart, he, and , and his servant, his -in-law, the young lady's , said to him, "Behold, now the day draws toward evening, please stay all night. Behold, the day is ending. Stay here, that may be merry; and tomorrow go on your way early, that you may go home." But the man wouldn't stay that night, but he rose up and went near (also called ). With him were a couple of saddled donkeys. also was with him. When they were by , the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, "Please come and let's enter into this city of the , and stay in it." 12His master said to him, "We won't enter into the city of a that is not of the ; but we will pass over to ." He said to his servant, "Come and let's draw near to one of these places; and we will lodge in , or in ." 14So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down on them near , which belongs to . They went over there, to go in to stay in . 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. Behold, an old man came from his work out of the field at evening. Now the man was from the hill country of , and he lived in ; but the men of the place were . He 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?" He said to him, "We are passing from Judah to the farther side of the hill country of . I am from there, and I went to Judah. I am going to house; and there is no one who has taken me into his house. 19Yet there is both straw and feed for our donkeys; and there is bread and also for me, and for , and for the young man who is with your servants. There is no lack of anything." The old man said, "Peace be to you! let me supply all your needs, but don't sleep in the street." So he brought him into his house, and gave the donkeys fodder. Then they washed their feet, and ate and drank. As they were making their merry, behold, the men of the city, certain 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!" The 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. Behold, here is my virgin daughter and . 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." But the men wouldn't listen to him; so the man grabbed , 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. Then the woman came in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her was, until it was . 27Her rose up in the morning and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and behold, the woman had fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He 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. When he had come into his house, he took a knife and cut up , and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel. It was so, that all who saw it said, "Such a deed has not been done or seen from the day that the came up out of the land of to this day! Consider it, take , and speak."
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The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.