The Ephraimite tried to distract the wicked men by offering them his own daughter and the Levite’s concubine instead. The Ephraimite pleaded, “Ravish them and do whatever you want to them; but against this man do not do such a vile thing.” (NRSV, Judges 19:24) The wicked men were not appeased, so the Levite threw his concubine out to the wicked men. The men raped and abused the concubine until dawn, at which point the woman crawled to the door of the Ephraimite and collapsed.

At full light, the concubine’s “master got up, opened the doors of the house, and when he went out to go his way, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. ‘Get up,’ he said to her, ‘we are going.’ But there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey; and the man set out for his home.” (NRSV, Judges 19:27–28)