God’s Word Translation
Judges 19:1
1In those days when Israel didn’t have a king, there was a Levite who lived in a remote area in the mountains of Ephraim. He took a woman from Bethlehem in Judah to be his concubine.
Judges 19:1 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)In those days Israel had no king. Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
- English Standard Version (ESV)In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
- New King James Version (NKJV)And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite staying in the remote mountains of Ephraim. He took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
Context of Judges 19:1
In those days when Israel didn’t have a king, there was a Levite who lived in a remote area in the mountains of Ephraim. He took a woman from Bethlehem in Judah to be his concubine. 2But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went to her father’s home, to Bethlehem in Judah. When she had been there four months, 3her husband went to persuade her to come back home. He took along his servant and two donkeys. She took her husband into her father’s house. Her father was thrilled to see him.
Read all of Judges 19Judges 19:1 word by word
וַיְהִי֙ בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵ֔ם וּמֶ֖לֶךְ אֵ֣ין בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיְהִ֣י׀ אִ֣ישׁ לֵוִ֗י גָּ֚ר בְּיַרְכְּתֵ֣י הַר־אֶפְרַ֔יִם וַיִּֽקַּֽח־לוֹ֙ אִשָּׁ֣ה פִילֶ֔גֶשׁ מִבֵּ֥ית לֶ֖חֶם יְהוּדָֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- And it came to pass in those daysיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
- no kingמֶ֫לֶךְmelek · kingH4428
- in Israelיִשְׂרָאֵלyiώrâ'êl · IsraelH3478
- that there was a certainאִישׁ'îysh · manH376
- Leviteלֵוִיlêvîyîy lêvîy · LeviH3881
- sojourningגּוּרgûr · to sojournH1481
- on the sideיַרְכָהyerêkâh · flankH3411
- of mountהַרhar · mountain: hill countryH2022
- Ephraimאֶפְרַ֫יִם'ephrayim · EphraimH669
- who tookלָקַחlâqach · to take: takeH3947
- to him a concubineפִּלֶ֫גֶשׁpîylegesh pilegesh · concubineH6370
- to him a concubineאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · woman: wifeH802
- out of Beth–lehem–judahיְהוּדָהyehûdâh · JudahH3063
- out of Beth–lehem–judahבֵּית לֶ֫חֶםbêyth lechem · BethlehemH1035
Cross-references for Judges 19:1
- Judges 17:6In those days Israel didn’t have a king. Everyone did whatever he considered right.
- Judges 18:1In those days Israel didn’t have a king. And in those days the tribe of Dan was looking for a place to live. Up to that time they had not received land as an inheritance among the tribes of Israel as they should have.
- Judges 21:25In those days Israel didn’t have a king. Everyone did whatever he considered right.
- Judges 17:1There was a man named Micah from the mountain region of Ephraim.
- Joshua 24:30He was buried on his own land at Timnath Serah in the mountains of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.
- Genesis 22:24Nahor’s concubine, whose name was Reumah, had the following children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.”
- Genesis 25:6But while he was still living, Abraham had given gifts to the sons of his concubines. He sent them away from his son Isaac to a land in the east.
- 2 Samuel 3:7Saul had a concubine named Rizpah (Aiah’s daughter). Ishbosheth asked Abner, “Why did you have sex with my father’s concubine?”
- 2 Samuel 5:13David married more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he had come there from Hebron, and he fathered more sons and daughters.
- 2 Samuel 16:22So a tent was put up on the roof for Absalom, and he slept with his father’s concubines in plain sight of Israel.
- 2 Samuel 19:5Then Joab came into the house. “Today you have made all your men feel ashamed,” he said. “They saved your life and the lives of your sons, daughters, wives, and concubines today.
- 2 Samuel 20:3When David came to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to look after the palace and put them in a house under guard. He provided for them but no longer slept with them. So they lived like widows in confinement until they died.
- 1 Kings 11:3He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 wives who were concubines.
- 2 Chronicles 11:21Rehoboam loved Maacah, Absalom’s granddaughter, more than all his other wives and concubines. (He had 18 wives and 60 concubines. He fathered 28 sons and 60 daughters.)
- Esther 2:14She would go in the evening and come back in the morning to the other quarters for women. There she would be in the care of the king’s eunuch Shaashgaz, the guardian of the concubines. She never went to the king again unless the king desired her and requested her by name.
- Daniel 5:3So the servants brought the gold utensils that had been taken from God’s temple in Jerusalem. The king, his nobles, wives, and concubines drank from them.
Commentaries on Judges 19:1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 1There was no king in Israel - All sorts of disorders are attributed to the want of civil government; justice, right, truth, and humanity, had fallen in the streets. Took to him a concubine - We have already seen that the concubine was a sort of secondary wife; and that such connections were not disreputable, being according to the general custom of those times. The word פילגש pilegesh, concubine, is supposed by Mr. Parkhurst to be compounded of פלג palag…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1A concubine - See the margin. The name does not imply any moral reproach. A concubine was as much the man‘s wife as the woman so called, though she had not the same rights. See Judges 19:3-4.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 1The wickedness of the men of Gibeah. --The three remaining chapters of this book contain a very sad history of the wickedness of the men of Gibeah, in Benjamin. The righteous Lord permits sinners to execute just vengeance on one another, and if the scene here described is horrible, what will the discoveries of the day of judgment be! Let each of us consider how to escape from the wrath to come, how to mortify the sins of our own hearts, to resist Satan's…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1A concubine was a second-class wife. In societies where polygamy was common, people could buy a concubine, acquire one as debt repayment, or take one in war. Sometimes, a concubine was added to compensate for a deficiency in a legitimate wife (for example, Genesis 16:1–4; 30:3–13; 35:22). However, in the case of the Levite, there seems to have been no other wife.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-151. it came to pass in those days--The painfully interesting episode that follows, together with the intestine commotion the report of it produced throughout the country, belongs to the same early period of anarchy and prevailing disorder. a certain Levite ... took to him a concubine--The priests under the Mosaic law enjoyed the privilege of marrying as well as other classes of the people. It was no disreputable connection this Levite had formed; for a…Read the comment
Topics related to Judges 19:1
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Judges 19
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- Darby Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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