The old man goes out to try to reason with the mob. He appeals to their sense of decency, and also to the commonly held values of hospitality. The tone of his speech is very strong.
And the man, the master of the house, went out to them: The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And might be translated “Then,” since it introduces the next event here. For the man, the master of the house, see verse 19.22. This phrase is repeated to emphasize the fact that the man was old and respected and did not deserve this kind of treatment. Went out renders the same Hebrew verb translated “bring out” in verse 19.22. The pronoun them refers to the mob.
And said to them: The general verb said may be rendered “begged” or “pleaded” in this context. To them is the second occurrence of this phrase. There is a kind of wordplay here since the Hebrew preposition translated to (ʾel) sounds like the negative marker ʾal, which occurs numerous times in what follows.
No, my brethren is the first cry of the old man. No renders the first occurrence of the Hebrew negative marker ʾal. For the Hebrew word translated brethren, see verse 18.8. It is especially ironic that the old man, a person from the tribe of Ephraim, calls these men from the tribe of Benjamin his “brothers.” They were indeed brothers because they all descended from the same ancestor, Jacob. The old man’s first appeal is based on the blood relationship that bound them together. The irony is very strong since these men were in no way acting as brothers should. Clearly this cry prefigures the civil war to come.
Do not act so wickedly contains the second occurrence of the Hebrew negative marker ʾal. The old man pleads with the mob not to commit the evil act of raping his guest. The Hebrew verb here comes from the same root as the key term raʿ (“evil”), which occurs frequently in the judges’ stories (see, for example, verse 4.1). The man appeals to their conscience and to their sense of morality. He even ends this clause with the Hebrew politeness marker naʾ, which Revised Standard Version unfortunately omits. Good News Translation renders it as “Please.” We might say “Please do not do this wicked thing.”
Seeing that this man has come into my house: Here the old man appeals to their sense of hospitality and honor, some of the highest values in Israelite culture. Traditional hospitality required that the Levite be protected, so the old man refuses to let them abuse his guest. This clause presents a problem of interpretation, because in Hebrew it reads literally “after which this man has come not my house.” In Hebrew there is only a slight difference between the negative marker ʾal and the preposition ʾel (“to”). Here Revised Standard Version and most other versions emend the text to say “after which this man has come to my house.” Seeing that is a good way to introduce this clause in English, but other languages may have other ways to express this idea. For example, we might say “After all, this man has come [as a guest] into my house!” Good News Translation is short but effective: “This man is my guest.”
Do not do this vile thing: Finally, the old man appeals to their sense of reason, using once again the Hebrew negative marker ʾal. He asks them not to do a foolish thing. The Hebrew word rendered vile thing comes from a root meaning “stupid” or “foolish” (see verse 2 Sam 13.13), so a good rendering for this clause is “Don’t do such a foolish/stupid thing!” New International Version says “don’t do this disgraceful thing,” and Revised English Bible has “do not commit this outrage” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). New American Bible translates “do not commit this crime,” but here the emphasis seems more on morality than on violation of a law.
Translation models for this verse are:
• Then the man who owned the house went out to them, and he pleaded with them, saying, “No, my brothers, don’t do this evil thing. This man is a guest in my home. Don’t do anything so foolish!
• Then the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and begged them not to commit such an evil act, saying, “The man is my guest. Don’t even think of something so horrible!
Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .