And now they were come near Jebus, and the day was far spent: and the servant said to his master: Come, I beseech thee, let us turn into the city of the Jebusites, and lodge there.

When they were near Jebus, the day was far spent, and the servant said to his master, |Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jeb'usites, and spend the night in it.|

They are near Jebus, and the day hath gone greatly down, and the young man saith unto his lord, 'Come, I pray thee, and we turn aside unto this city of the Jebusite, and lodge in it.'

When they got near Jebus the day was far gone; and the servant said to his master, Now let us go from our road into this town of the Jebusites and take our night's rest there.

When they were by Jebus, the day was almost gone, and the servant said to his master, 'Please come and let us stop at this city of the Jebusites, and spend the night in it.'

And now they were near Jebus, but day was turning into night. And the servant said to his lord, "Come, I beg you, let us turn aside to the city of the Jebusites, so that we may find lodging in it."

When they were by Jebus - This was Jerusalem, in which, though after the death of Joshua it appears to have been partly conquered by the tribe of Judah, yet the Jebusites kept the strong hold of Zion till the days of David, by whom they were finally expelled. See the note on Judges 1:8.

And when they were by Jebus the day was far spent,.... Or "was gone down very much" (q), the sun was going down apace, and near setting:
and the servant said unto his master, come, I pray thee: he proposed it to him in a submissive manner, and might use some entreaty for his master's good and safety:
and let us turn in unto this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it; for though that part of the city which belonged to the tribe of Judah was taken by them after the death of Joshua, yet that which belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, part of it was still possessed by the Jebusites, whom the Benjamites could not expel, Judges 1:21 and Ben Gersom thinks, that this affair of this Levite, and his concubine, was before the men of Judah fought against it, and took it; which not unlikely, seeing it is called here a city of the Jebusites, and because the Levite objected going into it on that account; whereas there would not have been much in his objection, if one part or it was in the session of the men of Judah, and the other in the hands of the tribe of Benjamin, though they had some Jebusites dwelling among them.
(q) "descenderat valde", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version.

But as the day had gone far down when they were by Jebus (רד, third pers. perf., either of ירד with י dropped like תּתּה in 2-Samuel 22:41 for נתתּה, or from רדד in the sense of ירד), the attendant said to his master, "Come, let us turn aside into this Jebusite city, and pass the night in it." But his master was unwilling to enter a city of the foreigners (נכרי( sre is a genitive), where there were none of the sons of Israel, and would pass over to Gibeah. "Come (לך = לכה, Numbers 23:13), we will draw near to one of the places (which he immediately names), and pass the night in Gibeah or Ramah." These two towns, the present Jeba and er Rm, were not a full hour's journey apart, and stood opposite to one another, only about two and a half or three hours from Jerusalem (see at Joshua 18:25, Joshua 18:28).