When he had come into his house, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel.
Parallel Translations
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When he had come into his house, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel.
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And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.
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And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Judges 19:29 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Judges 20:6-7 I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. Behold, you children of Israel, all of you, give here your advice and counsel.”
- 1 Samuel 11:7 He took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, “Whoever doesn’t come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” The dread of Yahweh fell on the people, and they came out as one man.
- Deuteronomy 21:22-23 If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. Don’t defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.
- Romans 10:2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jdg 19:29 And when he was come into his…
Jdg 19:29 And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, [together] with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.
Ver. 29. Laid hold on his concubine, and divided her.] Hoc Levitae factum singulare est, et illegitimum, saith Junius; this deed of the Levite was singular and unlawful, as being against the public and common rights of humanity and honesty, in a husband especially. Others think the Levite did well herein, being moved with a zeal for God’s glory, and for the promoting of justice, that such a horrible villany might be punished, and God’s heavy judgments prevented.
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And sent her into all the coasts of Israel.] Into Benjamin also. See a like practice of Saul in 1Sa 11:7
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Together with her bones, or, according to her bones,…
Together with her bones, or, according to her bones, according to the joints of her body, for there he made a division. This might seem to be a barbarous and inhuman act in itself; but may seem excusable, if it be considered that the sadness of the spectacle did highly contribute to stir up the zeal of all the Israelites to avenge his concubine’s death, and to execute justice upon such profligate offenders; and was necessary, especially in this time of anarchy and general corruption, Jdg 17:6, to awaken them out of that lethargy in which all the tribes lay.
Into twelve pieces; that one piece might be sent to every tribe; whereof none to Levi because they would meet with it in every tribe, being dispersed among them; but one to Benjamin; for he might well presume, that they would as much abhor so villainous an action, though done by some of their own tribe, as any of the rest.
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Sent her into all the coasts of Israel, by several messengers, by whom also he sent a particular relation of the fact.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And when he was come into his house,.... Having…
And when he was come into his house,.... Having taken the dead body of his wife from off the ass, and brought it in thither, and laid it in a proper place and order:
he took a knife; a carving knife, such as food is cut with, as the word signifies; the Targum is, a sword:
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and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces; cut off her limbs at the joints of her bones, and made twelve pieces of them, according to the number of the tribes of Israel:
and sent her into all the coasts of Israel; that is, to every tribe, as Josephus says (y): there was now no supreme magistrate to apply unto for justice, nor the court of seventy elders, and therefore he took this strange and unheard of method to acquaint each of the tribes with the fact committed; this he did not out of disrespect to his wife, but to express the vehement passion he was in on account of her death, in the way it was, and to raise their indignation at the perpetrators of it. Ben Gersom thinks he did not send to the tribe of Benjamin, where the evil was done; but Abarbinel is of another mind, and as Levi was not a tribe that lay together in one part of the land, but was scattered in it, pieces might be sent to the two half tribes of Manasseh, as the one lay on the one side Jordan, and the other on the other, and so there were twelve for the twelve pieces to be sent unto. So Ptolemy king of Egypt killed his eldest son, and divided his members, and put them in a box, and sent them to his mother on his birthday (z). Chytraeus (a) writes, that about A. C. 140, a citizen of Vicentia, his daughter being ravished by the governor Carrarius, and cut to pieces, who had refused to send her to him, being sent back again, he put up the carcass in a vessel, and sent it to the senate of Venice, and invited them to punish the governor, and seize upon the city.
(y) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 8.) (z) Justia. e Trogo, l. 38. c. 8. (a) Apud Quistorp. in loc.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Sent - By several messengers, with a relation of…
Sent - By several messengers, with a relation of the fact.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 29. Divided her - into twelve pieces] There…
Verse 29. Divided her - into twelve pieces] There is no doubt that with the pieces he sent to each tribe a circumstantial account of the barbarity of the men of Gibeah; and it is very likely that they considered each of the pieces as expressing an execration, "If ye will not come and avenge my wrongs, may ye be hewn in pieces like this abused and murdered woman!"
It was a custom among the ancient Highlanders in Scotland, when one clan wished to call all the rest to avenge its wrongs, to take a wooden cross, dip it in blood, and send it by a special messenger through all the clans. This was called the fire cross, because at sight of it each clan lighted a fire or beacon, which gave notice to all the adjoining clans that a general rising was immediately to take place.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jdg 19:29. He took a knife, &c. — As…
Jdg 19:29. He took a knife, &c. — As the Levite expected no justice from the elders of Gibeah, and there was no supreme head over all the tribes at that time, he had recourse to the elders of each respective tribe; and to move them the more, and stir them up to punish the offender, he sent a part of the body to each of them, preserved undoubtedly by some means from putrefaction. And, undoubtedly, he instructed those he sent with it to relate particularly the circumstances of the unparalleled and barbarous fact.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain A knife - Rather, “the” “knife”. The single household…
A knife - Rather, “the” “knife”. The single household implement used, not like our knives at our meals, but for slaughtering and cutting up the animals into joints for eating Gen 22:6, Gen 22:10; Pro 30:14.
Together with her bones ... - Rather, “into her bones”, or “bone by bone, into twelve pieces”. The “pieces” are synonymous with the “bones” (compare Eze 24:4-5). There is something truly terrible in the stern ferocity of grief and indignation which dictated this desperate effort to arouse his countrymen to avenge his wrong. Compare 1Sa 11:7.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Israel. One part, like an epistle, written with blood,…
Israel. One part, like an epistle, written with blood, to every tribe. (Salien) --- Some, without reason, think that Benjamin was neglected: but they were to be summoned, to bring their guilty brethren (Calmet) to condign punishment, or to share in their fate, as accomplices of the crime. (Haydock) --- The state of the republic authorized the Levite to take this extraordinary method of rousing all to a sense of horror for what had been done. (Calmet) --- His brethren, dispersed through the country, would no doubt take part in his grief.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain divided her . . . into twelve pieces--The want…
divided her . . . into twelve pieces--The want of a regular government warranted an extraordinary step; and certainly no method could have been imagined more certain of rousing universal horror and indignation than this terrible summons of the Levite.
Next: Judges Chapter 20
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 29. Together with her bones — Rather, According to…
29. Together with her bones — Rather, According to her bones, that is, severing her limbs, as he would those of an animal, according to the joints of the bones.
Twelve pieces — One for each tribe in Israel. Compare Saul’s similar act in 1Sa_11:7.
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Sent her into all the coasts — The messengers who bore these pieces doubtless told the shocking story in all the coasts through which they passed.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 29. and divided her … and sent her throughout…
29. and divided her … and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel] The same words in 1Sa_11:7, possibly implying that the present description has been copied from the other. But the two accounts differ in meaning: Saul’s summons was intended to convey a threat, the Levite’s to call forth horror. Divided is the regular term for cutting up a sacrificial victim, Exo_29:17, Lev_1:6; Lev_1:12, 1Ki_18:23; 1Ki_18:33.
twelve pieces] Not necessarily referring to the number of the tribes (LXX. cod A); the twelve-fold division of Israel belongs to the later historical theory which finds expression in chs. 20, 21.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (29) Divided her.—We see again that the narrative is…
(29) Divided her.—We see again that the narrative is taking us back to wild times, when the passions of men expressed themselves in wild and fierce expedients. A similar method of arousing a nation, but different in its details, is narrated in 1Sa_11:7, when Saul sends round the pieces of an ox, as was done by the ancient Scythians (Lucian, Toxaris, chap. 48). Many analogous customs existed among the ancient Highlanders, and have been repeated even in recent days among the Arab tribes (Stanley, i. 301).
With her bones.—Literally, according to her bone.
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Into twelve pieces.—One for each tribe. Benjamin was probably thus appealed to as well as the other tribes. It is needless to suppose that one was sent to Eastern Manasseh or to Levi.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Compare 1Sa_11:8.
Compare 1Sa_11:8.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 limb by limb
limb by limb
"section by section." The author uses this graphic description of how the Levite cut up her body into specific pieces to emphasize what he did. "Limbs" refers to a person's arms and legs. If there is not a similar phrase in your language, this description may be left out of the translation. (See: Idiom)
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twelve pieces
"12 pieces" (See: Numbers)
sent the pieces everywhere throughout Israel
This means that he sent sent the different pieces to twelve different areas of Israel. AT: "sent each piece to a different place throughout Israel" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
Levi
concubine
Israel
people group
Egypt
advice
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.