# Judges 19.1-21.25 **Book:** [Judges](/codex/judges/) ยท ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT ## Range note This is a **multi-chapter narrative arc** covering the Levite-concubine atrocity (ch. 19), the subsequent intertribal war against Benjamin (ch. 20), and the precarious aftermath including the abduction-of-the-Shiloh-virgins resolution (ch. 21). The arc reads as a single coherent unit and is conventionally treated as such in OT scholarship. Full chapter texts are not embedded here at stub level; see the canonical ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT public-domain editions for the entire passage. ## The framing refrain (representative) **ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/)) > 1. And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehem-judah. (Judges 19:1, ASV, opening) > > 25. In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25, ASV, closing) **WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/)) > 1. In those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite living on the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim, who took for himself a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah. (Judges 19:1, WEB, opening) > > 25. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25, WEB, closing) **KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/)) > 1. And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehemjudah. (Judges 19:1, KJV, opening) > > 25. In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25, KJV, closing) **YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/)) > 1. And it cometh to pass, in those days, when there is no king in Israel, that there is a man a Levite, a sojourner in the sides of the hill-country of Ephraim, and he taketh to him a wife, a concubine, out of Beth-Lehem-Judah. (Judges 19:1, YLT, opening) > > 25. In those days there is no king in Israel; each that which is right in his own eyes doth. (Judges 21:25, YLT, closing) ## Setting - **Speaker:** narrator (traditionally Samuel or later editor) - **Audience:** the Israelite tribal-confederacy and post-exilic reader - **Location:** Gibeah of Benjamin and surrounding territory - **Time period:** events c. 1100 BC (late Judges period); composed c. 1050-550 BC ## Theological reading _Judges 19-21 is one of the OT's most disturbing narratives: the Levite's concubine is sexually assaulted to death by the men of Gibeah, dismembered as a call to inter-tribal war, and the resulting civil war against Benjamin nearly extinguishes the tribe. The book's closing-line refrain *"in those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes"* is the canonical-editorial framing: the narrative is **descriptive of moral collapse, not prescriptive of any value endorsed**. Cited in [Lesson 4.3, Old Testament Difficulties](/codex/lesson-4-3-old-testament-difficulties/) under the descriptive-vs-prescriptive frame as one of the key test-cases. The book of Judges hub ([Judges](/codex/judges/)) provides higher-level theological context._ _Treat this passage with scholarly distance in apologetic deployment; see [Old Testament Difficult Texts](/codex/old-testament-difficult-texts/) for the master framework and [Canaanite Conquest and Herem](/codex/canaanite-conquest-and-herem/) for the related OT-difficulty defeater pattern. The narrative records sin to condemn it via inclusion in the canonical framework, not to model it._ ## See also - [Lesson 4.3, Old Testament Difficulties](/codex/lesson-4-3-old-testament-difficulties/), the Course lesson - [Old Testament Difficult Texts](/codex/old-testament-difficult-texts/), the master OT-difficulties hub - [Canaanite Conquest and Herem](/codex/canaanite-conquest-and-herem/), the related conquest defeater - [Genesis 19](/codex/genesis-19/), the canonical parallel (Lot at Sodom) - [Judges](/codex/judges/), book hub ## Quoted in **Arguments and defeaters:** - [Biblical Marriage Consent Objection Defeater](/codex/biblical-marriage-consent-objection-defeater/), via [Judges 19](/codex/judges-19/) - [Islamic Sex Slavery Objection Defeater](/codex/islamic-sex-slavery-objection-defeater/), via [Judges 19](/codex/judges-19/) - [OT Atrocities Descriptive vs Prescriptive Objection Defeater](/codex/ot-atrocities-descriptive-vs-prescriptive-objection-defeater/), via [Judges 19](/codex/judges-19/), [Judges 19.1](/codex/judges-19-1/), [Judges 19.21](/codex/judges-19-21/) - [Rape Only Condemned When Unmarried Objection Defeater](/codex/rape-only-condemned-when-unmarried-objection-defeater/), via [Judges 19](/codex/judges-19/) **Concepts:** - [Hebrew Verbs for Sexual Contact](/codex/hebrew-verbs-for-sexual-contact/), via [Judges 19](/codex/judges-19/), [Judges 19.22](/codex/judges-19-22/), [Judges 19.25](/codex/judges-19-25/) - [Lesson 4.3, Old Testament Difficulties](/codex/lesson-4-3-old-testament-difficulties/) - [OT Atrocities Descriptive vs Prescriptive Objection](/codex/ot-atrocities-descriptive-vs-prescriptive-objection/), via [Judges 19](/codex/judges-19/), [Judges 19.1](/codex/judges-19-1/), [Judges 19.21](/codex/judges-19-21/) - [OT Sexual-Violence Laws](/codex/ot-sexual-violence-laws/), via [Judges 19](/codex/judges-19/) - [Verses on Gods Goodness and Human Worth](/codex/verses-on-gods-goodness-and-human-worth/), via [Judges 19](/codex/judges-19/) **Lexicon:** - [H0113 - adon](/codex/h0113-adon/), via [Judges 19.11-12](/codex/judges-19-11-12/) - [H1330 - bethulah](/codex/h1330-bethulah/), via [Judges 19.24](/codex/judges-19-24/) - [H5039 - nevalah](/codex/h5039-nevalah/), via [Judges 19](/codex/judges-19/), [Judges 19.23-24](/codex/judges-19-23-24/) - [H6031 - anah](/codex/h6031-anah/), via [Judges 19.24](/codex/judges-19-24/) - [H6370 - pilegesh](/codex/h6370-pilegesh/), via [Judges 19](/codex/judges-19/) **Passages:** - [Genesis 19](/codex/genesis-19/) ## Why these four translations ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance. The four: - **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition. - **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English. - **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base. - **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff. See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.