4. His father-in-law, the young woman’s father, urged him to stay, and so he spent three days eating and drinking and passing the night there.
5. On the fourth day they rose early in the morning and he prepared to go. But the young woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Fortify yourself with a little food; you can go later on.”
6. So they stayed and the two men ate and drank together. Then the young woman’s father said to the husband, “Why not decide to spend the night here and enjoy yourself?”
7. The man made a move to go, but when his father-in-law pressed him he went back and spent the night there.
8. On the fifth morning he rose early to depart, but the young woman’s father said, “Fortify yourself!” He coaxed him, and he tarried until the afternoon, and the two of them ate.
9. Then when the husband was ready to go with his concubine and servant, the young woman’s father said to him, “See, the day is wearing on toward evening. Stay for the night. See, the day is coming to an end. Spend the night here and enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow you can start your journey home.”
10. The man, however, refused to stay another night; he and his concubine set out with a pair of saddled donkeys, and traveled until they came opposite Jebus, which is Jerusalem.
11. Since they were near Jebus with the day far gone, the servant said to his master, “Come, let us turn off to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.”
12. But his master said to him, “We will not turn off to a foreigner’s city, where there are no Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.
13. Come,” he said to his servant, “let us make for some other place and spend the night in either Gibeah or Ramah.”
14. So they continued on their way until the sun set on them when they were opposite Gibeah of Benjamin.
15. There they turned off to enter Gibeah for the night. The man went in and sat down in the town square, but no one took them inside to spend the night.
16. In the evening, however, an old man came from his work in the field; he was from the mountain region of Ephraim, though he was living in Gibeah where the local people were Benjaminites.
17. When he noticed the traveler in the town square, the old man asked, “Where are you going, and where have you come from?”
18. He said to him, “We are traveling from Bethlehem of Judah far up into the mountain region of Ephraim, where I am from. I have been to Bethlehem of Judah, and now I am going home; but no one has taken me into his house.