1. In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
2. However, she got angry at him and went home to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. When she had been there four months,
3. her husband came after her, hoping he could convince her to return. He brought with him his servant and a pair of donkeys. When she brought him into her father’s house and the girl’s father saw him, he greeted him warmly.
4. His father-in-law, the girl’s father, persuaded him to stay with him for three days, and they ate and drank together, and spent the night there.
5. On the fourth day they woke up early and the Levite got ready to leave. But the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Have a bite to eat for some energy, then you can go.”
6. So the two of them sat down and had a meal together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Why not stay another night and have a good time!”
7. When the man got ready to leave, his father-in-law convinced him to stay another night.
8. He woke up early in the morning on the fifth day so he could leave, but the girl’s father said, “Get some energy. Wait until later in the day to leave!” So they ate a meal together.