Judges 18:8
in Judges 18When the men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “What did you find?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?
KJV
And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?
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This verse in Judges 18
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
they came unto their brethren to Zorah
on Judges 18:8-10
The report runs the opposite way to the one brought back at Numbers 13:31-33, where the land was granted to be good and the men who had seen it said it could not be taken. Five men here say the land is very good and press their brethren to move at once, and be not slothful carries the weight of the argument. Verse 10 turns the priest's Go in peace into a promise, God hath given it into your hands, which is the language God himself uses at Joshua 6:2 and 8:1, spoken this time by men with no recorded word behind it.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
They represent the place as desirable: "If you will trust our judgments, we have seen the land, and we are agreed in our verdict upon the view, that, behold, it is very good (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol,.... After they had well viewed the city, and made their remarks on the inhabitants of it, the condition and circumstances in which they were, and took notice of the goodness of the land about it, they returned to their brethren that sent them, particularly those that dwelt at the two places mentioned: and their brethren said unto them, what say ye? what tidings do you bring? what account of the place and country where you have been?
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The place was very secluded--the soil rich in the abundance and variety of its produce, and the inhabitants, following the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, lived in their fertile and sequestered valley, according to the Zidonian style of ease and security, happy among themselves, and maintaining little or no communication with the rest of the world.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ | vaiyavou | and they came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֲחֵיהֶ֔ם | ʾacheihem | brothers their | H251 → | 630 times |
| צָרְעָ֖ה | tzareah | Zorah | H6881 → | 10 times |
| וְאֶשְׁתָּאֹ֑ל | veeshtaol | and Eshtaol | H847 → | 7 times |
| וַיֹּאמְר֥וּ | vaiyomeru | and they said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לָהֶ֛ם | lahem | to <the> them | ||
| אֲחֵיהֶ֖ם | ʾacheihem | brothers their | H251 → | 630 times |
| מָ֥ה | mah | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אַתֶּֽם׃ | ʾatem | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙and they came
vaiyavouH935 →2568 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אֲחֵיהֶ֔םbrothers their
ʾacheihemH251 →630 times
צָרְעָ֖הZorah
tzareahH6881 →10 times
וְאֶשְׁתָּאֹ֑לand Eshtaol
veeshtaolH847 →7 times
וַיֹּאמְר֥וּand they said
vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times
לָהֶ֛םto <the> them
lahem
אֲחֵיהֶ֖םbrothers their
ʾacheihemH251 →630 times
מָ֥הwhat?
mahH4100 →752 times
אַתֶּֽם׃you
ʾatemH859 →1094 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Judges 13:2Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.
it leads to
- Joshua 19:41
The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 25:21
Later, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
- Joshua 15:33
These were in the foothills:
- Luke 1:7
But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well along in years.
- Genesis 16:1
Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.
- Joshua 19:41
Through
Judges 18:2So the Danites sent out five men from their clans, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. “Go and explore the land,” they told them. The…
it leads to
- Judges 13:25
And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Joshua 2:1
Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, inspect the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
- Judges 13:25
Through
Judges 16:31Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.
it leads to
- Judges 15:20
And Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
- Judges 15:20
About Judges
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.