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Judges 18:19

in Judges 18

“Be quiet,” they told him. “Put your hand over your mouth and come with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one person or a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be priest unto the house of one man, or to be priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?

KJV

And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?

This verse in Judges 18

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Lay thine hand upon thy mouth - This was the token of silence. The god of silence, Harpocrates, is represented on ancient statues with his finger pressed on his lips.

This site's exposition

took the graven image

on Judges 18:18-20

The priest asks what they are doing as his shrine goes out the door, and the answer is an offer. Micah had hired him at 17:10 in the same words, and Dan repeats them, “be a father and a priest to us”, counting a tribe instead of coin. The priest was glad and went in the middle of the company, which Clarke reads as hiding from his old master.

This site's exposition

Put your hand over your mouth

Putting a hand over the mouth was the sign for silence, and Clarke compares statues of Harpocrates, god of silence, with a finger on his lips. Henry spells out the offer, a priest for a tribe with more worshippers and more sacrifices. The priest needed little persuading.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Lay thy hand - That is, be silent. A family - Namely, a tribe, that is, a family.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:81%@v14-19

And they said unto him, hold thy peace,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Let him go with them, and he shall have more dependants on him, more sacrifices brought to his altar, and more fees for consulting his teraphim, than he had here. A little persuasion served: His heart was glad,

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

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.

The words behind it

25 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.

  • וַיֹּאמְרוּ֩and they said

    vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times

  • ל֨וֹto <the> him

    lo

  • הַחֲרֵ֜שׁkeep quiet

    hachareshH2790 →74 times

  • שִֽׂים־put

    sim-H7760 →584 times

  • יָדְךָ֤hand your

    yadekhaH3027 →1618 times

  • עַל־over

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • פִּ֙יךָ֙mouth your

    pikhaH6310 →498 times

  • וְלֵ֣ךְand come

    velekhH1980 →1546 times

  • עִמָּ֔נוּwith us

    ʾimanuH5973 →1050 times

  • וֶֽהְיֵה־and become

    vehyeh-H1961 →3559 times

  • לָ֖נוּof us

    lanu

  • לְאָ֣ב<into> a father

    leavH1 →1212 times

  • וּלְכֹהֵ֑ןand <into> a priest

    ulekhohenH3548 →750 times

  • הֲט֣וֹב׀¿ good

    hatovH2896 →538 times

  • הֱיוֹתְךָ֣[is] being you

    heyotkhaH1961 →3559 times

  • כֹהֵ֗ןa priest

    khohenH3548 →750 times

  • לְבֵית֙of [the] house of

    leveitH1004 →2046 times

  • אִ֣ישׁa man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • אֶחָ֔דone

    ʾechadH259 →971 times

  • א֚וֹor?

    ʾoH176 →321 times

  • הֱיוֹתְךָ֣being you

    heyotkhaH1961 →3559 times

  • כֹהֵ֔ןa priest

    khohenH3548 →750 times

  • לְשֵׁ֥בֶטof a tribe

    leshevetH7626 →190 times

  • וּלְמִשְׁפָּחָ֖הand of a clan

    ulemishpachahH4940 →303 times

  • בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃in Israel

    beyisraelH3478 →2507 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

    Job 21:5

    Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth.

    it leads to

    • Job 40:4

      “Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth.

      Reached by 4 separate paths from here.

    • Proverbs 30:32

      If you have foolishly exalted yourself or if you have plotted evil, put your hand over your mouth.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Job 29:9

      The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands.

  • Through

    Job 29:9

    The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands.

    it leads to

    • Job 21:5

      Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Proverbs 10:19

      When words are many, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.

  • Through

    Micah 7:16

    Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their might. They will put their hands over their mouths, and their ears will become deaf.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 26:11

      O LORD, Your hand is upraised, but they do not see it. They will see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame. The fire set for Your enemies will consume them!

    • Isaiah 52:15

      so He will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For they will see what they have not been told, and they will understand what they have not heard.

  • Through

    Judges 17:10

    “Stay with me,” Micah said to him, “and be my father and priest, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your provisions.” So the Levite…

    it leads to

    • 1 Peter 5:2

      Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but because it is God’s will; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;

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; 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 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.