11. By the time they were near Jebus, it was very late in the day. The Levite’s servant said to him, “Let’s go spend the night in Jebus.”
12. The Levite told him, “We’ll never go into a city of foreigners. They’re not Israelites. We’ll go on to Gibeah.”
13. He told his servant, “Let’s go someplace else. We’ll spend the night either at Gibeah or Ramah.”
14. So they went on. It was sunset by the time they arrived at Gibeah. (Gibeah belonged to the tribe of Benjamin.)
15. They went to spend the night there. The Levite entered Gibeah and sat down in the city square, because no one offered to take them home for the night.
16. That evening an old man came into the city from his work in the fields. He was from the mountain region of Ephraim but lived in Gibeah. The other people who lived there were from the tribe of Benjamin.
17. He saw the traveler in the city square. So the old man asked, “Where do you come from? And where are you going?”
18. The Levite replied, “We’re on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the mountains of Ephraim. That’s where I’m from. I had gone to Bethlehem in Judah. Now I’m going to the Lord’s house, but no one has offered to take me into his home.
19. We have straw and fodder for our donkeys. I even have bread and wine for myself, the woman, and my servant. We have everything we need.”