¹ The word of the LORD also came to me, saying,

² Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

³ Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight; it may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house.

⁴ Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at evening in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.

⁵ Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.

⁶ In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou mayest not see the ground: for I have set thee for a sign to the house of Israel.

⁷ And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the evening I digged through the wall with my hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bore it upon my shoulder in their sight.

⁸ And in the morning came the word of the LORD to me, saying,

⁹ Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to thee, What doest thou?

¹⁰ Say thou to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD, This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.

¹¹ Say, I am your sign: as I have done, so shall it be done to them: they shall remove and go into captivity.

¹² And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he may not see the ground with his eyes.

¹³ My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans, yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.

¹⁴ And I will scatter towards every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.

¹⁵ And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.

¹⁶ But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

¹⁷ Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

¹⁸ Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with solicitude.

¹⁹ And say to the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with solicitude, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.

²⁰ And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

²¹ And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²² Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?

²³ Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say to them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.

²⁴ For there shall no more be any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.

²⁵ For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall no more be prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the LORD GOD.

²⁶ Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²⁷ Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are distant.

²⁸ Therefore say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be further deferred, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.

¹ It happened in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite living on the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah.

² His concubine played the prostitute against him, and went away from him to her father's house to Bethlehem Judah, and was there the space of four months.

³ Her husband arose, and went after her, to speak kindly to her, to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of donkeys: and she brought him into her father's house; and when the father of the young lady saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.

⁴ His father-in-law, the young lady's father, retained him; and he stayed with him three days: so they ate and drink, and lodged there.

⁵ It happened on the fourth day, that they arose early in the morning, and he rose up to depart: and the young lady's father said to his son-in-law, "Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward you shall go your way."

⁶ So they sat down, ate, and drank, both of them together: and the young lady's father said to the man, "Please be pleased to stay all night, and let your heart be merry."

⁷ The man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged him, and he lodged there again.

⁸ He arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart; and the young lady's father said, "Please strengthen your heart and stay until the day declines;" and they both ate.

⁹ When the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the young lady's father, said to him, "Behold, now the day draws toward evening, please stay all night: behold, the day grows to an end, lodge here, that your heart may be merry; and tomorrow go on your way early, that you may go home."

¹⁰ But the man wouldn't stay that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus (the same is Jerusalem): and there were with him a couple of donkeys saddled; his concubine also was with him.

¹¹ When they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, "Please come and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it."

¹² His master said to him, "We won't turn aside into the city of a foreigner, that is not of the children of Israel; but we will pass over to Gibeah."

¹³ He said to his servant, "Come and let us draw near to one of these places; and we will lodge in Gibeah, or in Ramah."

¹⁴ So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down on them near to Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.

¹⁵ They turned aside there, to go in to lodge in Gibeah: and he went in, and sat him down in the street of the city; for there was no man who took them into his house to lodge.

¹⁶ Behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at evening: now the man was of the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites.

¹⁷ He lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, "Where are you going? Where did you come from?"

¹⁸ He said to him, "We are passing from Bethlehem Judah to the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem Judah. I am going to the house of Yahweh; and there is no man who takes me into his house.

¹⁹ Yet there is both straw and provender for our donkeys; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your handmaid, and for the young man who is with your servants: there is no want of anything."

²⁰ The old man said, "Peace be to you; howsoever let all your wants lie on me; only don't lodge in the street."

²¹ So he brought him into his house, and gave the donkeys fodder; and they washed their feet, and ate and drink.

²² As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows, surrounded the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, "Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may have sex with him!"

²³ The man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, "No, my brothers, please don't act so wickedly; since this man is come into my house, don't do this folly.

²⁴ Behold, here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them what seems good to you; but to this man don't do any such folly."

²⁵ But the men wouldn't listen to him: so the man laid hold of his concubine, and brought her out to them; and they had sex with her, and abused her all night until the morning: and when the day began to dawn, they let her go.

²⁶ Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, until it was light.

²⁷ Her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold.

²⁸ He said to her, "Get up, and let us be going!" but no one answered. Then he took her up on the donkey; and the man rose up, and went to his place.

²⁹ 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.

³⁰ It was so, that all who saw it said, "There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day! Consider it, take counsel, and speak."