Judges 19

Judges 19 is the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel; modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans in the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in 7th century BCE. This chapter records the activities of a Levite from Ephraim and his concubine, belonging to a section comprising Judges 17 to 21.

This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 30 verses.

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls including 4Q50 (4QJudg^b; 30 BCE – 68 CE) with extant verses 5–7.

Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century).

Chapters 17 to 21 contain the "Double Conclusion" of the Book of Judges and form a type of inclusio together with their counterpart, the "Double Introduction", in chapters 1 to 3:6 as in the following structure of the whole book:
     A. Foreign wars of subjugation with the ḥērem being applied (1:1–2:5)
        B. Difficulties with foreign religious idols (2:6–3:6)
             Main part: the "cycles" section(3:7–16:31)
        B'. Difficulties with domestic religious idols (17:1–18:31)
     A'. Domestic wars with the ḥērem being applied (19:1–21:25)

There are similar parallels between the double introduction and the double conclusion as the following:

The entire double conclusion is connected by the four-time repetition of a unique statement: twice in full at the beginning and the end of the double conclusion and twice in the center of the section as follows:
     A. In those days there was no king...
        Every man did what right in his own eyes (17:6)
            B. In those days there was no king... (18:1)
            B'. In those days there was no king... (19:1)
     A'. In those days there was no king...
        Every man did what right in his own eyes (21:25)

It also contains internal links:
      Conclusion 1 (17:1–18:31): A Levite in Judah moving to the hill country of Ephraim and then on to Dan.
      Conclusion 2 (19:1–21:25): A Levite in Ephraim looking for his concubine in Bethlehem in Judah.