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Judges 17:9

in Judges 17

“Where are you from?” Micah asked him. “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” he replied, “and I am on my way to settle wherever I can find a place.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

KJV

And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Beth–lehem–judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

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This verse in Judges 17

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah

on Judges 17:7-9

Levites held no tribal land, and Deuteronomy 18:6-8 let any Levite come to the place God chose and eat equal portions. This one leaves Bethlehem “to settle where he could find a place” instead. Judges 18:30 names him Jonathan son of Gershom, where the King James reads son of Manasseh.

This site's exposition

Where are you from?

Micah asks where the Levite is from, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that he hired him on hearing the answer. The Levite gives his tribe, his town and his need. Bethlehem in Judah returns at 19:1 as the home of another Levite's concubine.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

1 And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me;

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

And Micah said unto him, whence comest thou?....

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.

  • וַיֹּאמֶר־and he said

    vaiyomer-H559 →5305 times

  • ל֥וֹto <the> him

    lo

  • מִיכָ֖הMicah

    mikhahH4318 →33 times

  • מֵאַ֣יִןfrom where?

    meayinH370 →

  • תָּב֑וֹאdo you come

    tavo'H935 →2568 times

  • וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • אֵלָ֜יוto him

    ʾelavH413 →5510 times

  • לֵוִ֣י[am] a Levite

    leviH3881 →291 times

  • אָנֹ֗כִיI

    ʾanokhiH595 →359 times

  • מִבֵּ֥יתfrom Beth-

    mibeitH1035 →82 times

  • לֶ֙חֶם֙-lehem

    lechemH1035 →82 times

  • יְהוּדָ֔הJudah

    yehudahH3063 →819 times

  • וְאָנֹכִ֣יand I

    veanokhiH595 →359 times

  • הֹלֵ֔ךְ[am] going

    holekhH1980 →1546 times

  • לָג֖וּרto sojourn

    lagurH1481 →97 times

  • בַּאֲשֶׁ֥רin where

    baasherH834 →5497 times

  • אֶמְצָֽא׃I will find

    ʾemtza'H4672 →455 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Judges

Jael, Deborah and Barak, Salomon de Bray, 1635. Public domain.
Jael, Deborah and Barak, Salomon de Bray, 1635. Public domain.
Judges: the study guide →Read Judges 17 →

This page draws on 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); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Judges 17 →