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Judges 18:14

in Judges 18

Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image, and a molten idol? Now think about what you should do.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.

KJV

Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.

This verse in Judges 18

Commentary

7 notes on this verse
In these houses - This agrees with what we saw at Jdg 18:2-3 that the “house of God” and Jonathan’s house were detached from Micah’s. There were other houses besides Jdg 18:22. The whole settlement was probably called Beth-Micah, contained in one court, and entered by one gate Jdg 18:16.

This site's exposition

the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish

on Judges 18:14-17

The four objects are the ones made at 17:3-5, a graven image and a molten idol from the mother's silver, with an ephod and household idols. The Hebrew word for these idols names the ones Rachel stole at Genesis 31:19, where the King James renders it images. The scouts carry them out while “six hundred Danites stood at the entrance of the gate”, one walled compound in Barnes's reading.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Answered - That is, spake, the word answering being often used in scripture of the first speaker. These houses - That is, in one of these houses. What to do - Whether it be not expedient to take them for your farther use.
Then they answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Being determined to take these gods along with them, we are here told how they stole the images, cajoled the priest, and frightened Micah from attempting to rescue them.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Their journey led them through the territory of Judah, and their first halting place was "behind," that is, on the west of Kirjath-jearim, on a spot called afterwards "the camp of Dan." Prosecuting the northern route, they skirted the base of the Ephraimite hills.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Consider what ye have to do - They probably had formed the design to carry off the priest and his sacred utensils.

The words behind it

24 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַֽיַּעֲנ֞וּand they answered

    vaiyaanuH6030 →331 times

  • חֲמֵ֣שֶׁת[the] five

    chameshetH2568 →343 times

  • הָאֲנָשִׁ֗יםthe men

    haanashimH582 →566 times

  • הַהֹלְכִים֮who had gone

    haholekhimH1980 →1546 times

  • לְרַגֵּל֮to spy out

    leragelH7270 →25 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הָאָ֣רֶץthe land

    haaretzH776 →2504 times

  • לַיִשׁ֒Laish

    layishH3919 →7 times

  • וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙and they said

    vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • אֲחֵיהֶ֔םbrothers their

    ʾacheihemH251 →630 times

  • הַיְדַעְתֶּ֗ם¿ do you know

    hayda'temH3045 →945 times

  • כִּ֠יthat

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • יֵ֣שׁthere

    yeshH3426 →140 times

  • בַּבָּתִּ֤יםin the houses

    babatimH1004 →2046 times

  • הָאֵ֙לֶּה֙<the> these

    haelehH428 →746 times

  • אֵפ֣וֹד[are] an ephod

    ʾefodH646 →49 times

  • וּתְרָפִ֔יםand teraphim

    uterafimH8655 →15 times

  • וּפֶ֖סֶלand a carved image

    ufeselH6459 →31 times

  • וּמַסֵּכָ֑הand a molten image

    umasekhahH4541 →28 times

  • וְעַתָּ֖הand therefore

    veatahH6258 →433 times

  • דְּע֥וּconsider

    deuH3045 →945 times

  • מַֽה־what?

    mah-H4100 →752 times

  • תַּעֲשֽׂוּ׃will you do

    taasuH6213 →2628 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Proverbs 19:27

    If you cease to hear instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.

    it leads to

    • 1 Timothy 6:3–5

      If anyone teaches another doctrine and disagrees with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with godly teaching,

    • Mark 4:24

      He went on to say, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more will be added to you.

    • 1 John 4:1

      Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

    • Matthew 7:15

      Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

    • Proverbs 14:7

      Stay away from a foolish man; you will gain no knowledge from his speech.

  • Through

    Judges 17:5

    Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained one of his sons as his priest.

    it leads to

    • Judges 8:27

      From all this Gideon made an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

    • Genesis 31:30

      Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”

    • Genesis 31:19

      Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.

About Judges

Jael, Deborah and Barak, Salomon de Bray, 1635. Public domain.
Jael, Deborah and Barak, Salomon de Bray, 1635. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.