Judges 18:21
in Judges 18Putting their small children, their livestock, and their possessions in front of them, they turned and departed.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the goods before them.
KJV
So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them.
⋯
This verse in Judges 18
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And put the little ones, etc., before them - They expected a pursuit from Micah’s people, and arranged their order of march accordingly. The carriage - Rather, “the valuables.” Some interpret it “the heavy baggage.”
This site's exposition
they turned and departed
on Judges 18:21-24
The small children, the livestock and the possessions go in front, which Barnes reads as an order of march against the pursuit they expected. Micah's neighbours are called out of the houses near his, so the shrine had a settlement around it. His cry states the difficulty in his own words, “You took the gods I had made”, and Isaiah 44:14-17 and 46:1-2 later argue from that order.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), could make no great haste, so that they soon overtook them, hoping by strength of reason to recover what was stolen, for the disproportion of their numbers was such that they could not hope to do it by strength of arm.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
So they turned and departed,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
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 little ones and the cattle, etc. - These men were so confident of success that they removed their whole families, household goods, cattle, and all. And the carriage - כבודה kebudah, their substance, precious things, or valuables; omne quod erat pretiosum, Vulgate: or rather the luggage or baggage; what Caesar calls in his commentaries impedimenta; and what the Septuagint here translate βαρος, weight or baggage. We are not to suppose that any wheel carriage is meant.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
The bulky cargo. The loads. Anything which moved ponderously, thus making it impossible to move quickly should the local inhabitants pursue them.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּפְנ֖וּ | vaiyifnu | and they turned | H6437 → | 135 times |
| וַיֵּלֵ֑כוּ | vaiyelekhu | and they went | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| וַיָּשִׂ֨ימוּ | vaiyasimu | and they put | H7760 → | 584 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַטַּ֧ף | hataf | the little one[s] | H2945 → | |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַמִּקְנֶ֛ה | hamikneh | the livestock | H4735 → | |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַכְּבוּדָּ֖ה | hakevudah | the valuable[s] | H3520 → | |
| לִפְנֵיהֶֽם׃ | lifneihem | <to> before them | H6440 → | 2123 times |
וַיִּפְנ֖וּand they turned
vaiyifnuH6437 →135 times
וַיֵּלֵ֑כוּand they went
vaiyelekhuH1980 →1546 times
וַיָּשִׂ֨ימוּand they put
vaiyasimuH7760 →584 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַטַּ֧ףthe little one[s]
hatafH2945 →
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הַמִּקְנֶ֛הthe livestock
hamiknehH4735 →
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הַכְּבוּדָּ֖הthe valuable[s]
hakevudahH3520 →
לִפְנֵיהֶֽם׃<to> before them
lifneihemH6440 →2123 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About Judges
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) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.