1And in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim, and he took a concubine out of Bethlehem-judah. 2And his concubine was unfaithful to him, left him and returned to her father's house in Bethlehem-judah, and stayed there four whole months. 3And her husband came with his servant, and a couple of donkeys, to speak kindly to her, and persuade her to return; and she brought him into her father's house. And when her father saw him, he was pleased to meet him. 4And his father-in-law, detained him; and he stayed with him for three days: eating and drinking, and lodging there. 5And on the fourth day, they arose early in the morning, to depart. And her father said to his son in law, “Refresh yourself with a bite to eat, before you leave.” 6And they sat down, and ate and drank, the two of them together; for her father had said to the man, “Be content, I pray you, and stay all night, and let your heart be merry.” 7And when he arose to depart, his father-in-law urged him; so that he stayed there again. 8And he arose early on the morning of the fifth day to leave; and her father again said, “Refresh yourself; wait till afternoon.” And they stayed until afternoon, and ate. 9And when the man rose to depart, he, his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law said to him, “Look, the day draws toward evening, please stay tonight; because the day is nearly over, stay here, that your heart may be merry; and get on your way early tomorrow, so that you may go home.” 10But the man refused to stay that night, but got up and departed, and came toward Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with him two saddled donkeys, his concubine, and his servant.

11And when they neared Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, “Come, let us turn into and lodge in this city of the Jebusites.” 12But his master replied, “We will not turn into a city of foreigners, who are not descendants of Israel; we will coninue on to Gibeah.” 13And he said to his servant, “Come, and let us try to reach Gibeah or Ramah and stay the night in one of these places.” 14And they continued along; and the sun went down when they neared Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. 15And so they stopped to lodge in Gibeah; and when they went in, he sat down in a street of the city; for no one offered lodging in their house for the night. 16And then an old man who was also from Mount Ephraim, and was staying in Gibeah, came from working in his field at evening; but the men of that place were Benjamites. And when the old man saw the traveler in the city square, he asked, “Where are you going? And where did you come from?”18The Levite replied, “We are passing from Bethlehem-judah toward my home in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim; to the Temple of the LORD; and no one has invited us into his house. 19And yet there is both straw and fodder for our donkeys; and bread and wine for me, my maid (concubine), and for the young man (servant) who is with me; we lack nothing.” 20And the old man said, “Peace be with you; but let your needs be supplied by me. Do not sleep out here in the street.” 21So he brought him into his house, and gave fodder to the donkeys; and they washed their feet, and they ate and drank.

22Now as they were enjoying themselves, some wicked men of the city surrounded the house, and pounded on the door, and spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know (have sex with) him.” 23And the old man went out to them, and said, “No, my brethren, no, I pray you, do not be so vile; since this man is a guest in my house, do not do this outrageous thing. 24Look, here is my daughter, a maiden, and his concubine; I will bring them out now, and you may humble them, and do with them whatever you want; but to this man, do not such a vile a thing.” 25But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine, and brought her out to them; and they raped and abused her all night until morning. And when the day began to dawn, they let her go. 26Then the woman came at dawn the of day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was, till it was light. 27And her master arose in the morning, and opened the door to continue on his way; and his concubine lay at the door of the house, with her hands upon the threshold. 28And he said to her, “Get up, and let us be going.” But he got no answer. Then the man put her up on a donkey, and left, and set out for home. 29And when he had reached his house, he took a knife, and divided his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent those pieces of her throughout all the areas of Israel. 30And all that saw it said, “There was never any such deed done, nor seen, from the day that the Israelites came up out of the land of Egypt to this day. We must do something! Consider it; and speak your minds.”