Though the question in verse 20.3 is addressed to a group, it is the Levite who responds.

And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said: The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And may be translated “Then” or “So” (New International Version). Here the identification of the Levite is very detailed, literally “the man, the Levite, the man of the woman the murdered.” The repeated Hebrew word for “man” (ʾish) and the related word for woman (ʾishshah) add emphasis, indicating a high point in the story. The woman who was murdered refers to the Levite’s concubine. The passive verb here may be made active by saying “the woman they murdered.” In some languages it may be necessary to introduce her first by saying “So the woman they killed, her husband, the Levite….” The literal expression answered and said may be shortened to “answered” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation) or “replied” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

I came to Gibe-ah that belongs to Benjamin is literally “[To] Gibeah that [belongs] to Benjamin, I came.” The Levite focuses immediately on the guilty party, as he mentions the town of Gibe-ah and the tribe of Benjamin (see verse 19.12). Revised Standard Version begins with I came for naturalness in English. Gibe-ah that belongs to Benjamin means that this town was in the territory of Benjamin.

I and my concubine renders an emphatic expression in Hebrew, specifying that the Levite came together with his concubine. Good News Translation‘s “My concubine and I went to Gibeah…” seems rather flat. Another possibility is “I, along with my concubine, came to Gibeah….” Some scholars see in these words a lack of concern for the concubine, but it is hard to know if this is the case. For concubine see verse 19.1.

To spend the night gives the reason the Levite found himself in this place. Gibeah was not his final destination. For the Hebrew verb rendered spend the night (lin), see verse 19.4, where it is translated “lodged.”

Translation models for this verse are:

• Then the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, “I, along with my concubine, went to Gibeah in Benjamin to stay overnight.

• So the Levite, the murdered woman’s husband, answered, “It was in the Benjaminite town of Gibeah that I stopped to spend the night, I and my wife.

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 .