Judges 19:18

Jdg 19:18 And he said unto him, We [are] passing from Bethlehemjudah toward the side of mount Ephraim; from thence [am] I: and I went to Bethlehemjudah, but I [am now] going to the house of the LORD; and there [is] no man that receiveth me to house.

Ver. 18. , But I am now going to the house of the Lord,] viz., at Shiloh, there to wait upon mine office as a Levite, which is my chief care. Verbi Minister es, hoc age, was Mr Perkins’s motto. Thou art a minister, mind thy work.

And there is no man that receiveth me to house.] Heb., That gathereth me. A sure sign of gasping devotion, of a settled godlessness, when a Levite is suffered to lie without doors. Hesiod reckoneth it one of the greatest wickednesses that can be, not to show kindness to a stranger.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jdg 19:18. House of the Lord — Which was in Shiloh. Thither he went, either because he lived there for that was in the tribe of Ephraim; or, rather, because he would there offer prayers and praises, and sacrifices to God, for his mercy in reconciling him and his wife.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To Shiloh of Mizpah where the Ark was.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

18. the farther side] See on Jdg_19:1.

the house of the Lord] The marg. is to be preferred; the last letter of bêthî = my house was taken as the initial of the divine name Yahweh. A converse mistake occurs in Jer_6:11, where fury of Yahweh has become my fury in the LXX There is nothing in the context to suggest that the Levite was going to Shiloh.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he said unto him, we are passing from Bethlehemjudah,.... He answers to his last question first, for this was the place from whence they came:

towards the side of Mount Ephraim: thither they were going, which is an answer to the first question: and then adds, which is more than what was requested:

from thence am I; that is, he was an inhabitant of a city on one side of Mount Ephraim, but what that city was, he says not, nor is it elsewhere said:

and I went to Bethlehemjudah; on what account he does not declare, but the above narrative clearly shows for what reason he went thither:

but I am now going to the house of the Lord; that is, the tabernacle in Shiloh, there he proposed to go first to offer sacrifice for the success of his journey, and for the reconciliation of his wife to him, and to pray to God for happiness in his family yet to come, and where some think his habitation was; but rather it was at some distance, not far from Mount Ephraim, and on the side of it, whither he should return when he had performed those acts of religion and devotion, which he judged were his duty:

and there is no man that receiveth me to house: that had invited him to his house to take a lodging there, as was common to do to travellers, as the instances of Abraham, Lot, Job, and others, show. It was a law with the Lucani (a people in Italy), that if a stranger came at sun setting, and was desirous of coming under the roof of anyone, if such an one did not receive him, he was to be fined, and suffer the punishment of inhospitality (t).

(t) Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 4. c. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The house of the Lord - Probably at Shiloh (marginal references). The Levite was probably one of those who ministered at the tabernacle. His two donkeys and servant show him to have been in good circumstances, and he had a home of his own.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Of God. Septuagint, "to my house I return in haste; and no one brings me into his house." The tabernacle was fixed at Silo in Ephraim. (Haydock) --- Chaldean, "the house of the sanctuary of God." (Menochius) (Ver. 1.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The house of the Lord was in Shiloh, Jos 18:1; 22:12 Thither he went, either because he lived there, for that in the tribe of Ephraim; or rather, because he would there offer prayers, and praises, and sacrifices unto God, for his mercy in reconciling him and his wife together, and for his blessing upon them again, and to make atonement for his wife.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The side of mount Ephraim. See ver. 1, note. I am going to the house of the Lord, i.e. to the tabernacle at Shiloh. But some translate the words I frequent, am conversant with, walk in, the house of the Lord, i.e. am a Levite. But the former seems the best rendering on the whole.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

House of the Lord - Which was in Shiloh. Thither he went, either because he lived there, for that was in the tribe of Ephraim; or, rather, because he would there offer prayers and praises, and sacrifices to God, for his mercy in reconciling him and his wife.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

who will take me into his house

This phrase refers to someone inviting other people into his house to spend the night there. AT: "who has invited me to stay in his house" (See: Idiom)

will take me

Here the Levite says "me," but he is actually referring to himself along with his servant and his concubine. AT: "will take us" (See: Synecdoche)

there is bread and wine

Change to active voice. AT: "we have plenty of bread and wine" (See: Active or Passive)

me and your female servant here, and for this young man with your servants

The Levite speaks of himself and the others as servants and in the third person to show respect. AT: "me, my concubine, and my servant" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

We lack nothing

This can be written as a positive statement. AT: "We have everything we need" (See: Litotes)

translationWords

Levi

Bethlehem

Judah

Ephraim

house of God

Yahweh

donkey

wine

servant

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

To the Sanctuary of Adonoy. I am going to Shiloh.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.