And the men of Gibeah rose against me
Not all of them, but some that dwelt in that city; he forbears giving them the character they justly deserved, sons of Belial. These came in a tumultuous and violent manner,
and beset the house round about upon me by night;
that he might not make his escape, resolving if possible to get him into their hands, and do with him according to their will:
and thought to have slain me;
their first intention was to commit the unnatural sin on him, and, if he resisted, to slay him; but this he modestly conceals, as being a sin not to be named in an assembly of saints; and besides he might say this, because he himself chose rather to be slain than to submit to their lust, which he knew must be the case upon his refusal and resistance; and even if he had yielded, being overpowered, this would have been the consequence, that he should have been abused even unto death, as his wife was:
and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead;
or "afflicted", or "humbled" F4 her; which is a modest expression for carnal knowledge of her, and which they had to such excess that she died through it.