Loading the publication-approved passages and connections for this study.
The Levite and His Concubine Leave Bethlehem
A Levite’s concubine leaves him and returns to her father’s house in Bethlehem. After four months the Levite goes to bring her back, but prolonged hospitality delays their departure until late in the day. Ancient textual witnesses disagree over why the woman originally left—unfaithfulness or anger—so the site presents that uncertainty rather than hiding it.
Judges repeats the “no king in Israel” refrain as the Levite-concubine narrative begins, deliberately carrying the reader from self-made religion into catastrophic social violence under the same crisis of self-rule.
Hosea explicitly says Israel has corrupted itself “as in the days of Gibeah,” using the atrocity and covenant collapse of Judges 19–20 as a prophetic benchmark for the depravity of his own generation.
Hosea again reaches back to Gibeah and its battle, explicitly recalling the Judges civil-war story so later Israel sees its present rebellion measured against one of the darkest episodes in its past.
Additional KJV-centered Bible study is available for this passage, including explanations behind its Scripture connections. The full study is available with Plus.
This passage has 3 research dossiers examining ancient writings, historical interpretation, material evidence and specialist source comparisons. Full sources and explanations require Deep Study.