Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Judges 20:5

in Judges 20

And during the night, the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house. They intended to kill me, but they abused my concubine, and she died.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about me by night; me they thought to have slain, and my concubine they forced, and she is dead.

KJV

And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead.

⋯

This verse in Judges 20

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This 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 men of Gibeah rose up against

The Levite drops the name wicked men that the narrator gave the men of Gibeah at 19:22, as Gill notes. Henry takes his plain words as restraint before the assembly. He tells her death in three words.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And the men of Gibeah rose against me,.... Not all of them, but some that dwelt in that city; he forbears giving them the character they justly deserved, sons of Belial.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

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

16 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַיָּקֻ֤מוּand they rose up

    vaiyakumuH6965 →628 times

  • עָלַי֙on me

    ʾalaiH5921 →5755 times

  • בַּעֲלֵ֣י[the] citizens of

    baaleiH1167 →84 times

  • הַגִּבְעָ֔ה<the> Gibeah

    hagivahH1390 →45 times

  • וַיָּסֹ֧בּוּand they surrounded

    vaiyasobuH5437 →161 times

  • עָלַ֛יon me

    ʾalaiH5921 →5755 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַבַּ֖יִתthe house

    habayitH1004 →2046 times

  • לָ֑יְלָהnight

    layelahH3915 →233 times

  • אוֹתִי֙<obj.> me

    ʾotiH853 →10935 times

  • דִּמּ֣וּthey intended

    dimuH1819 →

  • לַהֲרֹ֔גto kill

    laharogH2026 →167 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • פִּילַגְשִׁ֥יconcubine my

    pilagshiH6370 →37 times

  • עִנּ֖וּthey abused

    ʾinuH6031 →82 times

  • וַתָּמֹֽת׃and she died

    vatamotH4191 →839 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

8 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Judges 19:22While they were enjoying themselves, suddenly the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they said to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house, so we can have relations with him!”5 worksJudges 19:25–26But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go.4 worksHosea 10:9Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel, and there you have remained. Did not the battle in Gibeah overtake the sons of iniquity?4 worksJudges 19:28“Get up,” he told her. “Let us go.” But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.4 worksGenesis 19:4–8Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.3 worksDeuteronomy 22:24you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you must purge the evil from among you.2 works
The other 2 cross-references, with their words ▾
2 Samuel 13:14But Amnon refused to listen to her, and being stronger, he violated her and lay with her.2 worksEzekiel 22:10–11In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity.1 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Judges 19:22

    While they were enjoying themselves, suddenly the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they said to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who…

    it leads to

    • Genesis 19:4–5

      Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.

    • 1 Corinthians 6:9

      Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual…

    • Deuteronomy 13:13

      that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),

    • Romans 1:26–27

      For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.

    • 1 Samuel 2:12

      Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 22:24

    you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he…

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 22:21–22

      she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous…

    • 1 Corinthians 5:13

      God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

    • Deuteronomy 21:14

      And if you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. But you must not sell her for money or treat her as a slave, since you have…

Where this verse is studied

About Judges

Jael, Deborah and Barak, Salomon de Bray, 1635. Public domain.
Jael, Deborah and Barak, Salomon de Bray, 1635. Public domain.
Judges: the study guide →Read Judges 20 →

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; 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.

Read on in Judges 20 →