Judges 19:17
in Judges 19When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going, and where have you come from?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?
KJV
And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?
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This verse in Judges 19
Commentary
6 notes on this verseIf Gibeah was like Sodom, this old man was like Lot in Sodom, who sat in the gate to invite strangers, Gen. xix. Thus Job opened his doors to the traveller, and would not suffer him to lodge in the street, Job xxxi. How ready he was to give credit to the Levite's account of himself when he saw no reason at all to question the truth of it.
This site's exposition
an old man from the hill country of Ephraim
on Judges 19:16-17
Their one host is from Ephraim himself and only “residing in Gibeah”, and the verse adds that “the men of that place were Benjamites”. Lot was the same kind of sojourner at Sodom, as Genesis 19:1 and 19:9 show. He asks a host's two questions, “Where are you going, and where have you come from”.
This site's exposition
saw the traveler in the city square
Matthew Henry sets the old man beside Job, who in Job 31 refused to let a traveller lodge in the street. The old man sees the party in the open square at nightfall and speaks first. Henry notes how readily he believed the Levite's account of himself.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
The Gabanites lived there, unfriendly, harsh, unbearable people, who could stand anything but to receive people hospitably. Indeed, it would have been much more suitable had the Levite not sought hospitality in Gaba [Gibeah]. That his treatment be utterly offensive, he found on entering the city that there was no inn. And when he sat on the road imploring the mercy of these strangers, an old man from the fields happened to stumble on him, for evening had compelled him to leave his work in the fields at night. Seeing him, he asked where he was from and where he was going.
When some little progress was made, though night was threatening to come on, and they were close by the town of the Jebusites, on the slave's request that his lord should turn aside there, he refused, because it was not a city of the children of Israel. He meant to get as far as Gibeah, which was inhabited by the people of the tribe of Benjamin. But when they arrived there was no one to receive them with hospitality, except a stranger of advanced age.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And when he had lifted up his eyes,....
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
To the Sanctuary of Adonoy. I am going to Shiloh. 3 The Mishkon was at Shiloh. (Yehosnua,:1).
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. 7 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
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּשָּׂ֣א | vaiyisa' | and he lifted up | H5375 → | 656 times |
| עֵינָ֗יו | ʾeinav | eyes his | H5869 → | 887 times |
| וַיַּ֛רְא | vaiyar' | and he saw | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָאִ֥ישׁ | haish | the man | H376 → | 1663 times |
| הָאֹרֵ֖חַ | haoreach | who was traveling | H732 → | |
| בִּרְחֹ֣ב | bircho | in [the] open square of | H7339 → | 43 times |
| הָעִ֑יר | hair | the city | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| וַיֹּ֨אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| הָאִ֧ישׁ | haish | the man | H376 → | 1663 times |
| הַזָּקֵ֛ן | hazaken | <the> old | H2205 → | 178 times |
| אָ֥נָה | ʾanah | where? | H575 → | |
| תֵלֵ֖ךְ | telekh | are you going | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| וּמֵאַ֥יִן | umeayin | and from where? | H370 → | |
| תָּבֽוֹא׃ | tavo' | are you coming | H935 → | 2568 times |
וַיִּשָּׂ֣אand he lifted up
vaiyisa'H5375 →656 times
עֵינָ֗יוeyes his
ʾeinavH5869 →887 times
וַיַּ֛רְאand he saw
vaiyar'H7200 →1300 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָאִ֥ישׁthe man
haishH376 →1663 times
הָאֹרֵ֖חַwho was traveling
haoreachH732 →
בִּרְחֹ֣בin [the] open square of
birchoH7339 →43 times
הָעִ֑ירthe city
hairH5892 →1090 times
וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
הָאִ֧ישׁthe man
haishH376 →1663 times
הַזָּקֵ֛ן<the> old
hazakenH2205 →178 times
אָ֥נָהwhere?
ʾanahH575 →
תֵלֵ֖ךְare you going
telekhH1980 →1546 times
וּמֵאַ֥יִןand from where?
umeayinH370 →
תָּבֽוֹא׃are you coming
tavo'H935 →2568 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
6 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
Genesis 16:8“Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.
it leads to
- Genesis 3:9
But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”
- Genesis 4:10
“What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
- Jeremiah 2:17–18
Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when He led you in the way?
- Ecclesiastes 10:4
If the ruler’s temper flares against you, do not abandon your post, for calmness lays great offenses to rest.
- Ephesians 6:5–8
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.
- Genesis 3:9
Through
Genesis 32:17He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’
it leads to
- Genesis 33:3
But Jacob himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
- Genesis 33:3
About Judges
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Ambrose of Milan, LETTER 33; Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy 3.19.113; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.