Judges 6:5
in Judges 6For the Midianites came with their livestock and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were innumerable, and they entered the land to ravage it.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For they came up with their cattle and their tents; they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy it.
KJV
For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.
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This verse in Judges 6
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThey came up with their cattle and their tents - All this proves that they were different tribes of wanderers who had no fixed residence; but, like their descendants the Bedouins or wandering Arabs, removed from place to place to get prey for themselves and forage for their cattle.
This site's exposition
destroying the produce of the land
on Judges 6:4-6
The raids are timed to the harvest and leave "neither sheep nor oxen nor donkeys", taking the seed and the plough animals together. Raiders on camels without number outrun any farmer on foot, and the locust image returns at 7:12. Verse 6 is the fourth of six times Israel cries out to the Lord, after 3:9, 3:15 and 4:3, and the one answered first by a prophet.
This site's exposition
with their livestock and their tents
Adam Clarke reads the livestock and tents as the mark of wandering tribes with no fixed home, like the later Bedouin. They moved from place to place for plunder and for pasture for their herds. Israel's fields became their grazing ground.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), not in a regular army to engage them in the field, but in a confused swarm to plunder the country, quarter themselves upon it, and enrich themselves with its spoils--bands of robbers, and no better. And sinful Israel, being separated by sin from God, had not spirit to make head against them.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
For they came up with their cattle, and their tents,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Grasshoppers - Rather locusts (compare Exo 10:4-6, Exo 10:14-15; Joel 1; 2; Psa 78:46)
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֡י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הֵם֩ | hem | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| וּמִקְנֵיהֶ֨ם | umikneihem | and livestock their | H4735 → | |
| יַעֲל֜וּ | yaalu | they came up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| וְאָהֳלֵיהֶ֗ם | veoholeihem | and tents their | H168 → | 345 times |
| וּבָ֤אוּ | vuba'u | and they came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| כְדֵֽי־ | khedei- | according to [the] abundance of | H1767 → | |
| אַרְבֶּה֙ | ʾarbeh | locust[s] | H697 → | |
| לָרֹ֔ב | laro | for multitude | H7230 → | 149 times |
| וְלָהֶ֥ם | velahem | and [belonged] to them | ||
| וְלִגְמַלֵּיהֶ֖ם | veligmaleihem | and to camels their | H1581 → | 54 times |
| אֵ֣ין | ʾein | not | H369 → | 789 times |
| מִסְפָּ֑ר | mispar | number | H4557 → | 134 times |
| וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ | vaiyavou | and they came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| בָאָ֖רֶץ | vaaretz | in the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| לְשַׁחֲתָֽהּ׃ | leshachatah | to destroy it | H7843 → | 146 times |
כִּ֡יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
הֵם֩they
hemH1992 →553 times
וּמִקְנֵיהֶ֨םand livestock their
umikneihemH4735 →
יַעֲל֜וּthey came up
yaaluH5927 →890 times
וְאָהֳלֵיהֶ֗םand tents their
veoholeihemH168 →345 times
וּבָ֤אוּand they came
vuba'uH935 →2568 times
כְדֵֽי־according to [the] abundance of
khedei-H1767 →
אַרְבֶּה֙locust[s]
ʾarbehH697 →
לָרֹ֔בfor multitude
laroH7230 →149 times
וְלָהֶ֥םand [belonged] to them
velahem
וְלִגְמַלֵּיהֶ֖םand to camels their
veligmaleihemH1581 →54 times
אֵ֣יןnot
ʾeinH369 →789 times
מִסְפָּ֑רnumber
misparH4557 →134 times
וַיָּבֹ֥אוּand they came
vaiyavouH935 →2568 times
בָאָ֖רֶץin the land
vaaretzH776 →2504 times
לְשַׁחֲתָֽהּ׃to destroy it
leshachatahH7843 →146 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
Isaiah 60:6Caravans of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah, and all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and frankincense and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.
it leads to
- Matthew 2:11
On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and frankincense…
- Psalms 72:10
May the kings of Tarshish and distant shores bring tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.
- Psalms 72:15
Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him; may they bless him all day long.
- Genesis 25:3–4
Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites, and the Leummites.
- 1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- Matthew 2:11
Through
Jeremiah 49:32Their camels will become plunder, and their large herds will be spoil. I will scatter to the wind in every direction those who shave their temples; I will bring calamity on them from all…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:26
Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair of their temples. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in…
- Jeremiah 9:26
Through
Judges 7:12Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore.
it leads to
- Judges 8:10
Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army of about fifteen thousand men—all that were left of the armies of the people of the east. A hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had…
- Judges 8:10
Through
Jeremiah 49:29They will take their tents and flocks, their tent curtains and all their goods. They will take their camels for themselves. They will shout to them: ‘Terror is on every side!’
it leads to
- Jeremiah 46:5
Why am I seeing this? They are terrified, they are retreating; their warriors are defeated, they flee in haste without looking back; terror is on every side!” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 46:5
Where this verse is studied
About Judges
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.