1. In those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite living as resident foreigner in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim. He took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah.
2. Yet his concubine became angry with him and went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah. She was there for four months.
3. Her husband got up and went after her in order to speak tenderly to her and bring her back. His servant and two donkeys were with him. When he came to her father’s house, the girl’s father saw him and was happy to meet with him.
4. His father-in-law, the girl’s father, prevailed upon him to stay with him for three days. So they ate and drank and spent the night there.
5. On the fourth day they woke up early in the morning. He got ready to go, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen yourself with a little food, and then you can go.”