Judges 19:1

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

Now in those days Israel had no king. There was a man from the tribe of Levi living in a remote area of the hill country of Ephraim. One day he brought home a woman from Bethlehem in Judah to be his concubine. 2But she became angry with him and returned to her father’s home in Bethlehem. After about four months, 3her husband set out for Bethlehem to speak personally to her and persuade her to come back. He took with him a servant and a pair of donkeys. When he arrived at her father’s house, her father saw him and welcomed him.

Judges 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 had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
• Judges 18:1Now in those days Israel had no king. And the tribe of Dan was trying to find a place where they could settle, for they had not yet moved into the land assigned to them when the land was divided among the tribes of Israel.
• Judges 21:25In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
• Judges 17:1There was a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim.
• Joshua 24:30They buried him in the land he had been allocated, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
• Genesis 22:24Nahor had four other children from his concubine Reumah. Their names were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
• Genesis 25:6But before he died, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off to a land in the east, away from Isaac.
• 2 Samuel 3:7One day Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, accused Abner of sleeping with one of his father’s concubines, a woman named Rizpah, daughter of Aiah.
• 2 Samuel 5:13After moving from Hebron to Jerusalem, David married more concubines and wives, and they had more sons and daughters.
• 2 Samuel 16:22So they set up a tent on the palace roof where everyone could see it, and Absalom went in and had sex with his father’s concubines.
• 2 Samuel 19:5Then Joab went to the king’s room and said to him, “We saved your life today and the lives of your sons, your daughters, and your wives and concubines. Yet you act like this, making us feel ashamed of ourselves.
• 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 placed them in seclusion. Their needs were provided for, but he no longer slept with them. So each of them lived like a widow until she died.
• 1 Kings 11:3He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord.
• 2 Chronicles 11:21Rehoboam loved Maacah more than any of his other wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and they gave birth to twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
• Esther 2:14That evening she was taken to the king’s private rooms, and the next morning she was brought to the second harem, where the king’s wives lived. There she would be under the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch in charge of the concubines. She would never go to the king again unless he had especially enjoyed her and requested her by name.
• Daniel 5:3So they brought these gold cups taken from the Temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives, and his 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

• Adultery
• Bethlehem
• Concubinage
• Friends

In the dictionaries

• Ephraim
• Israel
• Judah
• Levite
• Mount Ephraim
• Beat
• Diligent
• Gibeah
• Micah
• Wayfaring

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