Judges 19:23-20:6

New King James Version

²³ But ^(A)the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brethren! I beg you, do not act so wickedly! Seeing this man has come into my house, ^(B)do not commit this outrage. ^24 (C)Look, here is my virgin daughter and ^[a]the man’s concubine; let me bring them out now. ^(D)Humble them, and do with them as you please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing!” ²⁵ But the men would not heed him. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. And they ^(E)knew her and abused her all night until morning; and when the day began to break, they let her go.

²⁶ Then the woman came as the day was dawning, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, till it was light.

²⁷ When her master arose in the morning, and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way, there was his concubine, fallen at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸ And he said to her, “Get up and let us be going.” But ^(F)there was no answer. So the man lifted her onto the donkey; and the man got up and went to his place.

²⁹ When he entered his house he took a knife, laid hold of his concubine, and ^(G)divided her into twelve pieces, ^[b]limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. ³⁰ And so it was that all who saw it said, “No such deed has been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, ^(H)confer, and speak up!”

Israel’s War with the Benjamites

20 So ^(I)all the children of Israel came out, from ^(J)Dan to ^(K)Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the Lord ^(L)at Mizpah. ² And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers ^(M)who drew the sword. ³ (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.)

Then the children of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wicked deed happen?”

⁴ So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “My concubine and ^(N)I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night. ^5 (O)And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, ^(P)but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died. ⁶ So ^(Q)I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they ^(R)committed lewdness and outrage in Israel.