What does Judges 19:2 mean?

This story of the Levite and his concubine begins awkwardly and only becomes more tragic. This unnamed Levite man took a concubine: a woman he slept with and could have children with, but to whom he did not give the full rights and privileges of a wife (Judges 19:1). The Levite had brought this woman to live with him in Ephraim. While there, something happened between them.

Commentators disagree about how best to read the Hebrew text in this context. The Hebrew root word used to describe her action is zanah, typically associated with prostitution and fornication (Exodus 34:15; Leviticus 19:29; Hosea 4:10). The Septuagint, a Greek translation made by ancient Jewish scholars, says she was "angry with him." It's most likely she was sexually unfaithful, either habitually or by having an affair. Other interpreters suggest she was "unfaithful" only in the sense that she ran away and went back to her father's house. As far as this passage is concerned, the exact nature of their falling out is not important.

For his part, the woman's father allowed her to stay with him again. Four months passed before the woman's husband, the Levite man, came to take her back home.