Skip to content
mannafest.faith

Joshua 11:4

in Joshua 11

So these kings came out with all their armies, a multitude as numerous as the sand on the seashore, along with a great number of horses and chariots.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea-shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many.

KJV

And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many.

This verse in Joshua 11

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Much people, even as the sand - This form of speech, by some called a hyperbole, conveys simply the idea of a vast or unusual number - a number of which no regular estimate could be easily formed. Josephus, who seldom finds difficulties in such cases, and makes no scruple of often speaking without book, tells us that the allied armies amounted to 300,000 foot 10,000 horse, and 20,000 chariots of war. Antiq. lib. v., c.

This site's exposition

even as the sand that

on Joshua 11:4-5

Sand upon the sea shore is the measure God gave Abraham for his own descendants at Genesis 22:17 and Jacob at Genesis 32:12, and here it counts the army assembled to destroy them. This verse is the first place in Scripture where that figure is turned on an enemy, and it does the same work later at 1 Samuel 13:5 of the Philistines and at Revelation 20:8. The waters of Merom are named twice in the whole King James Bible and both are in this chapter, at verses 5 and 7.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

on Joshua 11:1-9

Jabin ("the Intelligent"), which seems to have been a hereditary title (Jud 4:2), took the lead, from Hazor being the capital of the northern region (Jos 11:10). It was situated on the borders of lake Merom. The other cities mentioned must have been in the vicinity though their exact position is unknown.

The words behind it

17 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.

  • וַיֵּצְא֣וּand they came out

    vaiyetzeuH33181067 times

  • הֵ֗םthey

    hemH1992553 times

  • וְכָל־and all

    vekholH36055413 times

  • מַֽחֲנֵיהֶם֙armies their

    machaneihemH4264215 times

  • עִמָּ֔םwith them

    ʾimamH59731050 times

  • עַם־a people

    ʾam-H59711873 times

  • רָ֕בnumerous

    ravH7227454 times

  • כַּח֛וֹלlike the sand

    kacholH2344

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • עַל־[is] on

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • שְׂפַת־[the] shore of

    sefat-H8193176 times

  • הַיָּ֖םthe sea

    haiyamH3220396 times

  • לָרֹ֑בfor multitude

    laroH7230

  • וְס֥וּסand horse[s]

    vesusH5483140 times

  • וָרֶ֖כֶבand chariot[s]

    varekhevH7393119 times

  • רַב־many

    rav-H7227454 times

  • מְאֹֽד׃very

    meodH3966300 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

    Genesis 22:17

    I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 15:5

      And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

    • Genesis 24:60

      And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”

    • Jeremiah 33:22

      As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister…

    • Genesis 26:4

      I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,

    • Numbers 24:17–19

      I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and…

  • Through

    2 Samuel 17:11

    Instead, I advise that all Israel from Dan to Beersheba—a multitude like the sand on the seashore—be gathered to you, and that you yourself lead them into battle.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 22:17

      I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Genesis 32:12

    But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”

    it leads to

    • Genesis 28:13–15

      And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the…

  • Through

    Judges 7:12

    Now 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 6:5

      For 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.

Where this verse is studied

About Joshua

The Walls of Jericho Fall Down, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Walls of Jericho Fall Down, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.