Judges 3:11
in Judges 3So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
KJV
And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
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This verse in Judges 3
Commentary
5 notes on this verseAnd the land had rest forty years,.... As it should seem from the time of this deliverance; though, according to Ben Gersom and Abarbinel, the eight years' servitude are to be included in them; and Bishop Usher (r) reckons these forty years from the rest first settled in the land by Joshua; but the former sense seems best: and Othniel the son of Kenaz died: not at the end of the forty years; it is not likely he should live so long, but when he died is not certain; Eusebius (s) says he judged Israel fifty years. (r) Anual. Vet.
This site's exposition
So the land had rest for forty years
The land had rest closes the pattern. In Judges it falls three times, at 3:11, 3:30 and 5:31, with Joshua 14:15 using the wording first. It stops after Deborah's song and never returns, so the last sixteen chapters run the cycle without the sentence that ends it.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Forty years - It rested about forty years, or the greatest part of forty years: it being most frequent in scripture to use numbers in such a latitude. Nor is it unusual either in scripture, or in other authors, for things to be denominated from the greater part; especially, when they enjoyed some degrees of rest and peace even in their times of slavery.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The land - means here, as in Jdg 1:2, not the whole land of Canaan, but the part concerned, probably the land of the tribe of Judah. Forty years, here and elsewhere, is (like fourscore years, Jdg 3:30) a round number, perhaps equivalent to a generation.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
sold them--that is, "delivered them" into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim--or, Chushan, "the wicked." This name had been probably given him from his cruel and impious character. served Chushan-rishathaim eight years--by the payment of a stipulated tribute yearly, the raising of which must have caused a great amount of labor and privation.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The Divine spirit visited him. R' Tanchuma expounded: He studied the statement of the Holy One, blessed is He, to Moshe in Mitzrayim, "I have surely seen (lit. 'seeing, I have seen') the tribulation of my people." 1 Shemos,:7. What are the two sights? 2 ‘Seeing’ I have ‘seen’.
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. 4 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
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַתִּשְׁקֹ֥ט | vatishkot | and it was at peace | H8252 → | 41 times |
| הָאָ֖רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| אַרְבָּעִ֣ים | ʾarbaim | forty | H705 → | 136 times |
| שָׁנָ֑ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| וַיָּ֖מָת | vaiyamot | and he died | H4191 → | 839 times |
| עָתְנִיאֵ֥ל | ʾateniel | Othniel | H6274 → | 7 times |
| בֶּן־ | ben- | [the] son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| קְנַֽז׃ פ | kenaz | Kenaz | H7073 → | 11 times |
וַתִּשְׁקֹ֥טand it was at peace
vatishkotH8252 →41 times
הָאָ֖רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
אַרְבָּעִ֣יםforty
ʾarbaimH705 →136 times
שָׁנָ֑הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
וַיָּ֖מָתand he died
vaiyamotH4191 →839 times
עָתְנִיאֵ֥לOthniel
ʾatenielH6274 →7 times
בֶּן־[the] son of
ben-H1121 →4930 times
קְנַֽז׃ פKenaz
kenazH7073 →11 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 5:31So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:6
He will bring forth your righteousness like the dawn, your justice like the noonday sun.
- 2 Samuel 23:4
is like the light of the morning at sunrise of a cloudless dawn, the glistening after the rain on the sprouting grass of the earth.’
- 1 Peter 1:8
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
- Psalms 19:4–5
their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun.
- James 1:12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.
- Psalms 37:6
Through
Judges 8:28In this way Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. So the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon,
it leads to
- Judges 5:31
So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Judges 5:31
Through
Joshua 11:23So Joshua took the entire land, in keeping with all that the LORD had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to the allotments to their tribes. Then…
it leads to
- Joshua 21:44–45
And the LORD gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the LORD delivered all their enemies into their…
- Joshua 21:44–45
Through
Esther 9:22as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to…
it leads to
- Psalms 30:11
You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
- Psalms 30:11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Judges
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth.