9. Then the man got up to go: he, his concubine, and his servant. His father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look! It is getting dark. Spend the night! Settle in and spend the night here, let your heart be merry. You can get up early tomorrow and go home.”
10. Yet the man did not want to spend the night, so he got up and left and approached Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). Two saddled donkeys and his concubine were with him.
11. When they were near Jebus, it was getting very late. The servant said to his master, “Come, let us turn aside to this Jebusite city and spend the night in it.”
12. His master said to him, “We must not turn aside to a city of foreigners, who are not children of Israel. We will continue on to Gibeah.”
13. He said to his servant, “Come, let us go to one of these places. We will spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.”
14. They continued and went on. The sun went down when they were near Gibeah in Benjamin.
15. So they turned aside there to go and spend the night in Gibeah. They went in and sat in the city square, but no one took them in to spend the night.
16. Just then, an old man came in at evening time from his work in the field. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim and lived as a resident foreigner in Gibeah, but the townspeople were Benjamites.
17. He looked up and saw the traveler in the city square. The old man said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”
18. He said to him, “We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I am going to the house of the Lord. No one has taken me into his home.
19. Yet there is enough straw and fodder for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me, your maidservant, and the young man who is with your servant. We do not lack anything.”
20. The old man said, “Do not worry. I will take care of whatever you need. Just do not spend the night in the city square.”
21. So he brought him into his house and gave food to his donkeys. They washed their feet, ate, and drank.