Judges 3:14
in Judges 3The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
KJV
So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
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This verse in Judges 3
Commentary
6 notes on this verseSo the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. Ten years longer than they served the king of Mesopotamia, Jdg 3:8, as a severer correction of them for their relapse into idolatry.
This site's exposition
Once again the Israelites did evil
on Judges 3:12-14
The LORD "gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel", so the enemy's rise comes from the hand that raises the deliverer three verses later. Moab takes "the City of Palms", Jericho by Deuteronomy 34:3, so the first town Israel captured in the land is held by a foreign king.
This site's exposition
served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years
John Gill reads the longer servitude as a heavier correction for a people who had fallen back into idolatry. The second fall draws the longer sentence. The eighteen years under Moab end only when Israel cries out again in verse 15.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
It was an aggravation of their wickedness that they did evil again after they had smarted so long for their former iniquities, promised so fair when Othniel judged them, and received so much mercy from God in their deliverance. What, and after all this, again to break his commandments! Was the disease obstinate to all the methods of cure, both corrosives and lenitives?
They neglected the service of God, and did not pay him his tribute; thus therefore did God recover from them that wine and oil, that silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal, Hos. ii. What should have been paid to the divine grace, and was not, was distrained for, and paid to the divine justice.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord--The Israelites, deprived of the moral and political influences of Othniel, were not long in following their native bias to idolatry. the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab--The reigning monarch's ambition was to recover that extensive portion of his ancient territory possessed by the Israelites.
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
Whose right arm was immobile. Yonasan renders "A man whose right arm was shrunken." "Gamid" in the Aramaic always indicates something shrunken by disease, "retrait", "shrunk" in old French. He could not utilize his right arm.
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
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּעַבְד֤וּ | vaiyaavdu | and they served | H5647 → | 288 times |
| בְנֵֽי־ | venei- | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עֶגְל֣וֹן | eglon | Eglon | H5700 → | 13 times |
| מֶֽלֶךְ־ | melekh- | [the] king of | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| מוֹאָ֔ב | moav | Moab | H4124 → | 181 times |
| שְׁמוֹנֶ֥ה | shemoneh | eight- | H8083 → | 109 times |
| עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה | ʾesreh | teen | H6240 → | 338 times |
| שָׁנָֽה׃ ס | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
וַיַּעַבְד֤וּand they served
vaiyaavduH5647 →288 times
בְנֵֽי־[the] people of
venei-H1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵל֙Israel
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
עֶגְל֣וֹןEglon
eglonH5700 →13 times
מֶֽלֶךְ־[the] king of
melekh-H4428 →2525 times
מוֹאָ֔בMoab
moavH4124 →181 times
שְׁמוֹנֶ֥הeight-
shemonehH8083 →109 times
עֶשְׂרֵ֖הteen
ʾesrehH6240 →338 times
שָׁנָֽה׃ סyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
3 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
Deuteronomy 28:40You will have olive trees throughout your territory but will never anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off.
it leads to
- Micah 6:15
You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.
- Psalms 104:15
wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.
- Psalms 23:5
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
- Micah 6:15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Judges
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.