day he resolved to go home, and went away in the evening; for his
wife's parents were loath to part with their daughter, and
delayed the time till the day was gone. Now they had one servant
that followed them, and an ass on which the woman rode; and when
they were near Jerusalem, having gone already thirty furlongs,
the servant advised them to take up their lodgings some where,
lest some misfortune should befall them if they traveled in the
night, especially since they were not far off enemies, that
season often giving reason for suspicion of dangers from even
such as are friends; but the husband was not pleased with this
advice, nor was he willing to take up his lodging among
strangers, for the city belonged to the Canaanites, but desired
rather to go twenty furlongs farther, and so to take their
lodgings in some Israelite city. Accordingly, he obtained his
purpose, and came to Gibeah, a city of the tribe of Benjamin,
when it was just dark; and while no one that lived in the
market-place invited him to lodge with him, there came an old man
out of the field, one that was indeed of the tribe of Ephraim,
but resided in Gibeah, and met him, and asked him who he was, and
for what reason he came thither so late, and why he was looking
out for provisions for supper when it was dark? To which he
replied, that he was a Levite, and was bringing his wife from her
parents, and was going home; but he told him his habitation was
in the tribe of Ephraim: so the old man, as well because of their
kindred as because they lived in the same tribe, and also because
they had thus accidentally met together, took him in to lodge
with him. Now certain young men of the inhabitants of Gibeah,
having seen the woman in the market-place, and admiring her
beauty, when they understood that she lodged with the old man,
came to the doors, as contemning the weakness and fewness of the