Judges 20:4
in Judges 20So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered: “I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was murdered, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.
KJV
And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.
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This verse in Judges 20
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Tell us, how did this wicked thing happen
on Judges 20:3-5
The Levite says “They intended to kill me”, where 19:22 records the men demanding to have relations with him. He omits 19:25, where he sent his concubine out to them himself. Both accounts stand in the book as written, and the narrator sets his speech down without comment.
This site's exposition
the husband of the murdered woman
The Levite gives the assembly his own account of the night at Gibeah. Henry notes that the law required more than one witness. He judges that the servant and the old man also spoke before the assembly.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered, and said,....
They declared their sin as Sodom, even the sin of Sodom, but his modesty would not suffer him to repeat it; it was sufficient to say they would have slain him, for he would rather have been slain than have submitted to their villany; and, if they had got him into their hands, they would have abused him to death, witness what they had done to his concubine: They have forced her that she is dead,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said--The injured husband gave a brief and unvarnished recital of the tragic outrage, from which it appears that force was used, which he could not resist. His testimony was doubtless corroborated by those of his servant and the old Ephraimite.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּ֜עַן | vaiyaan | and he answered | H6030 → | 331 times |
| הָאִ֣ישׁ | haish | the man | H376 → | 1663 times |
| הַלֵּוִ֗י | halevi | the Levite | H3881 → | 291 times |
| אִ֛ישׁ | ʾish | [the] husband of | H376 → | 1663 times |
| הָאִשָּׁ֥ה | haishah | the woman | H802 → | 781 times |
| הַנִּרְצָחָ֖ה | hanirtzachah | <the> murdered | H7523 → | |
| וַיֹּאמַ֑ר | vaiyomar | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| הַגִּבְעָ֙תָה֙ | hagivatah | <the> Gibeah towards | H1390 → | 45 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| לְבִנְיָמִ֔ן | levinyamin | [belongs] to Benjamin | H1144 → | 166 times |
| בָּ֛אתִי | bati | I came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֲנִ֥י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| וּפִֽילַגְשִׁ֖י | ufilagshi | and concubine my | H6370 → | 37 times |
| לָלֽוּן׃ | lalun | to spend [the] night | H3885 → | 84 times |
וַיַּ֜עַןand he answered
vaiyaanH6030 →331 times
הָאִ֣ישׁthe man
haishH376 →1663 times
הַלֵּוִ֗יthe Levite
haleviH3881 →291 times
אִ֛ישׁ[the] husband of
ʾishH376 →1663 times
הָאִשָּׁ֥הthe woman
haishahH802 →781 times
הַנִּרְצָחָ֖ה<the> murdered
hanirtzachahH7523 →
וַיֹּאמַ֑רand he said
vaiyomarH559 →5305 times
הַגִּבְעָ֙תָה֙<the> Gibeah towards
hagivatahH1390 →45 times
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
לְבִנְיָמִ֔ן[belongs] to Benjamin
levinyaminH1144 →166 times
בָּ֛אתִיI came
batiH935 →2568 times
אֲנִ֥יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
וּפִֽילַגְשִׁ֖יand concubine my
ufilagshiH6370 →37 times
לָלֽוּן׃to spend [the] night
lalunH3885 →84 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
About Judges
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.