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Bible Chapter Summary

Judges 19 Summary

The Levite's Concubine at Gibeah

In the days when there was no king, a Levite retrieves his estranged concubine from Bethlehem and lodges overnight in Gibeah of Benjamin. Wicked men of the city surround the house demanding the Levite, and the concubine is thrust out to them and abused until she dies at the door by morning. The Levite carries her home, cuts her body into twelve pieces, and sends them throughout Israel. All who see it declare that no such deed had been done since Israel came out of Egypt.

Key themes

Moral collapseNo king in IsraelViolence and depravityA call to action

Key verses

Judges 19:1

And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehem-judah.

Judges 19:25

But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.

Judges 19:30

And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.

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