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28 “Get up!” he said. “It's time to leave.”

But his wife didn't move.[a]

He lifted her body onto his donkey and left. 29 (A) When he got home, he took a butcher knife and cut her body into twelve pieces. Then he told some messengers, “Take one piece to each tribe of Israel 30 and ask everyone if anything like this has ever happened since Israel left Egypt. Tell them to think about it, talk it over, and tell us what should be done.”

Everyone who saw a piece of the body said, “This is horrible! Nothing like this has ever happened since the day Israel left Egypt.”[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 19.28 move: Hebrew; one ancient translation “move. She was dead.”
  2. 19.29,30 he told some messengers … since the day Israel left Egypt: One ancient translation; Hebrew “he told some messengers, ‘Take one piece to each tribe of Israel.’ Everyone who saw a piece of the body said, ‘This is horrible! Nothing like this has ever happened since Israel left Egypt. Think of it! Let's talk it over and decide what to do.’ ”

28 He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

29 When he reached home, he took a knife(A) and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel.(B) 30 Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt.(C) Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!(D)

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