12. But his master, the Levite man, said, “No, we will not go inside a strange city. Those people are not Israelites. We will go to the city of Gibeah.”
13. The Levite said, “Come on. Let’s try to make it to Gibeah or Ramah. We can stay the night in one of those cities.”
14. So the Levite and those with him traveled on. The sun was going down just as they entered the city of Gibeah. Gibeah is in the area that belongs to the tribe of Benjamin.
15. They planned to stop there and stay the night. They came to the city square and sat down, but no one invited them home to stay the night.
16. That evening an old man came into the city from the fields. His home was in the hill country of Ephraim, but now he was living in the city of Gibeah. (The men of Gibeah were from the tribe of Benjamin.)
17. The old man saw the traveler in the public square and asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”
18. The Levite answered, “We have come from Bethlehem in Judah, where I went for a visit. Now I am on my way home, which is a long way into the hill country of Ephraim. I expected that someone here would invite us in for the night, but no one has.
19. We already have straw and food for our donkeys. There is also bread and wine for me, the young woman, and my servant. We don’t need anything.”
20. The old man said, “You are welcome to stay at my house. I will give you anything you need, but don’t stay the night in the public square.”
21. Then the old man took the Levite and the people with him to his house. He fed their donkeys. They washed their feet and then had something to eat and drink.
22. While the Levite and those who were with him were enjoying themselves, some very bad men from the city surrounded the house. They began beating on the door. They shouted at the old man who owned the house. They said, “Bring out the man who came to your house. We want to have sex with him.”
23. The old man went outside and said to them, “My friends, don’t do such an evil thing! This man is a guest in my house. Don’t commit this terrible sin.
24. Look, here is my daughter. She has never had sex before. I will bring her out to you now. This man also has a slave woman. You can use them any way you want, but don’t do such a terrible sin against this man.”
25. But those evil men would not listen to the old man. So the Levite took his slave woman and put her outside with them. They hurt her and raped her all night long. Then, at dawn, they let her go.
26. At dawn, the woman came back to the house where her master was staying. She fell down at the front door and lay there until it was daylight.
27. The Levite got up early the next morning. He wanted to go home. He opened the door to go outside, and a hand fell across the threshold of the door. There was his slave woman. She had fallen down against the door.
28. The Levite said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. The Levite put her body on his donkey and went home.
29. When he arrived at his house, he took a knife and cut her body into 12 parts. Then he sent the 12 parts of the woman to each of the areas where the Israelites lived.