Bible Strands
Judges 19:22
While they were enjoying themselves, suddenly the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they said to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house, so we can have relations with him!”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The wicked men of Gibeah surround the house while the host and his guest finish eating and drinking, then demand the homeowner hand over the visitor for sexual violation. The crowd speaks directly to the elderly homeowner as the guest's safety is actively threatened.
The words — The Hebrew phrase מֵיטִיבִים לִבָּם (meiṭîḇîm liḇbām) literally means "making good to their heart" or "enjoying themselves." This idiom captures their casual revelry before the violent interruption signaled by וְהִנֵּה (wəhinnēh, "and behold/suddenly").
The thread — The surrounding of the house by city men echoes Genesis 19:4 at Sodom and recurs in Judges 20:5 when the men of Gibeah rise to kill a Levite. The label "wicked men" anticipates the moral warning in 1 Corinthians 6:9 that such practices exclude one from God's kingdom.
Why it lands — The text forces a reader to confront the complete breakdown of hospitality and civic order during Israel's judge period. It demands recognition that moral decay escalates from private indulgence to organized violence, requiring a clear response to protect the vulnerable.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.
Cross-references
- Genesis 19:4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,
- Judges 20:5 And during the night, the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house. They intended to kill me, but they abused my concubine, and she died.
- Deuteronomy 13:13 that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),
- Romans 1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
- Judges 16:25 And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
- 1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD
- 1 Samuel 25:25 My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.
- 2 Corinthians 6:15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
- Jude 1:7 In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire.