1. Before kings ruled Israel, a Levite was living deep in the hill country of the Ephraim tribe. He married a woman from Bethlehem in Judah,
2. but she was unfaithful and went back to live with her family in Bethlehem.Four months later
3. her husband decided to try and talk her into coming back. So he went to Bethlehem, taking along a servant and two donkeys. He talked with his wife, and she invited him into her family's home. Her father was glad to see him
4. and did not want him to leave. So the man stayed three days, eating and drinking with his father-in-law.
5. When everyone got up on the fourth day, the Levite started getting ready to go home. But his father-in-law said, “Don't leave until you have a bite to eat. You'll need strength for your journey.”
6. The two men sat down together and ate a big meal. “Come on,” the man's father-in-law said. “Stay tonight and have a good time.”
7. The Levite tried to leave, but his father-in-law insisted, and he spent one more night.
8. On the fifth day, the man got up early to leave, but his wife's father said, “You need to keep up your strength! Why don't you leave straight after lunch?” So the two of them started eating.
9. Finally, the Levite got up from the meal, so he and his wife and servant could leave. “Look,” his father-in-law said, “it's already late afternoon, and if you leave now, you won't get very far before dark. Stay with us one more night and enjoy yourself. Then you can get up early tomorrow morning and start home.”
10. But the Levite decided not to spend the night there again. He had the saddles put on his two donkeys, then he and his wife and servant travelled as far as Jebus, which is now called Jerusalem.
11. It was beginning to get dark, and the man's servant said, “Let's stop and spend the night in this town where the Jebusites live.”
12. “No,” the Levite answered. “They aren't Israelites, and I refuse to spend the night there. We'll stop for the night at Gibeah,
13. because we can make it to Gibeah or perhaps even to Ramah before dark.”
14. They walked on and reached Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin just after sunset.