And on the fifth day he arose early in the morning to depart is literally “And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to go.” Once again the Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And can be omitted, with the temporal information on the fifth day being moved to the front of the sentence. The pronoun he refers to the Levite, but his whole group is in view here, so it may be rendered “the Levite and his group” or “the Levite and his concubine.” For arose early in the morning, see verse 19.5.

And the girl’s father said: The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered and can be translated “but” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version), as everyone is hoping that the father-in-law will let them leave. This, however, is not the case. For the girl’s father, see verse 19.3.

Strengthen your heart is literally “Sustain your heart please” (see verse 19.5). Good News Translation says “Eat something, please.”

And tarry until the day declines: For the Hebrew verb rendered tarry, see verse 3.26, where it is translated “delayed.” Here the verb is imperative, which in some cultures may sound harsh, while quite acceptable in others. We might say “Stay on,” “Wait” (Good News Translation), or “Please wait.” New Revised Standard Version emends the Hebrew text to read “they lingered” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), changing the imperative verb to an indicative one, but according to Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, this change is not necessary.

Until the day declines is literally “until the day stretches out [or, bends],” an idiomatic expression for the sun going down. In many cultures journeys in midday with overhead sun is not advisable. The journey would be too hot. We might say “until a little later in the day” or “until the sun goes down a little.”

So they ate, both of them: Here the Hebrew waw conjunction is well rendered So. The pronouns they and them refer to the Levite and his father-in-law. As in verse 19.6, the focus is once again on these two major characters and their good relationship. It does not mean that nobody else ate. Some ver Septuagintver* manuscripts add “and they drank” here (so also New Revised Standard Version and Revised English Bible; compare verse 19.4, 6), but Hebrew Old Testament Text Project does not recommend this addition.

A translation model for this verse is:

• On the fifth morning the Levite got up early in the morning to get ready to go. But the woman’s father said to him, “You should have something to eat. Stay until later in the day.” So the two of them ate together.

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 .