7. When the man got up to go, his father-in-law asked him to stay. So he stayed again that night.
8. On the fifth day the man got up early in the morning to leave. The woman’s father said, “Refresh yourself. Wait until this afternoon.” So the two men ate together.
9. When the Levite, his slave woman, and his servant got up to leave, the father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said, “It’s almost night. The day is almost gone. Spend the night here and enjoy yourself. Tomorrow morning you can get up early and go home.”
10. But the Levite did not want to stay another night. So he took his two saddled donkeys and his slave woman and traveled toward the city of Jebus (also called Jerusalem).
11. As the day was almost over, they came near Jebus. So the servant said to his master, “Let’s stop at this city of the Jebusites, and spend the night here.”
12. But his master said, “No. We won’t go inside a foreign city. Those people are not Israelites. We will go on to the city of Gibeah.”
13. He said, “Come on. Let’s try to make it to Gibeah or Ramah so we can spend the night in one of those cities.”
14. So they went on. The sun went down as they came near Gibeah, which belongs to the tribe of Benjamin.
15. They stopped there to spend the night. They came to the public square of the city and sat down, but no one invited them home to spend the night.
16. Finally, in the evening an old man came in from his work in the fields. His home was in the mountains of Ephraim, but now he was living in Gibeah. (The people of Gibeah were from the tribe of Benjamin.)
17. He saw the traveler in the public square and asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”
18. The Levite answered, “We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to my home in the mountains of Ephraim. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah, but now I am going to the Holy Tent of the Lord. No one has invited me to stay in his house.
19. We already have straw and food for our donkeys and 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. Let me give you anything you need, but don’t spend the night in the public square.”