The laborer of Gibeah offering hospitality by Pieter De Grebber

The value of a cultural context can often get lost in translation. When translating another people’s way of life, language often fails us as it does not give the necessary equivalents. The story of the concubine in Judges 19 is an example of value lost in translation. The word concubine is often associated with sexually explicit relationships. However, in some cultures like my own, concubine can represent a lower status wife who has not received a bride price. This becomes a challenge to translate as western cultures do not have the bride price marriage system. The understanding of this story can be enriched when one understands the full value of the unnamed woman in this passage. This story is dear to me, because it holds cultural context that I am able to relate to as a Zimbwean-American.