Skip to content
mannafest.faith

Judges 4:10

in Judges 4

where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.

KJV

And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.

This verse in Judges 4

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Ten thousand at his feet - That is, who followed him; possibly he intimates that they were all foot-men; and so this is emphatically added, to signify by what contemptible means God overthrew Sisera's great host.

This site's exposition

he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali

on Judges 4:10-11

The narrator stops the march to pitch one tent near Kedesh, placing Heber before he is needed. He comes from "the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses". So the household that ends this war descends from the kin who came in with Judah at 1:16 and moved north alone.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Ten thousand men at his feet - Ten thousand footmen. He had no chariots; his army was all composed of infantry.
Rather, “and ten thousand men went up (to Tabor) at his feet;” i. e. as his followers (“after him,” Jdg 4:14).

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

Elon Betza'anayim. The marshland plain. 8 This is Targum Yonasan’s rendition. A plateau area with marshes, "mariscum", "morass" in old French.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Judges 4:11:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

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

15 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.

  • וַיַּזְעֵ֨קand he summoned

    vaiyazekH2199 →73 times

  • בָּרָ֜קBarak

    barakH1301 →13 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • זְבוּלֻ֤ןZebulun

    zevulunH2074 →45 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • נַפְתָּלִי֙Naphtali

    naftaliH5321 →51 times

  • קֶ֔דְשָׁהKedesh towards

    kedshahH6943 →12 times

  • וַיַּ֣עַלand it went up

    vaiyaalH5927 →890 times

  • בְּרַגְלָ֔יוat feet his

    beraglavH7272 →247 times

  • עֲשֶׂ֥רֶתten

    ʾaseretH6235 →176 times

  • אַלְפֵ֖יthousand<s>

    ʾalfeiH505 →505 times

  • אִ֑ישׁman

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • וַתַּ֥עַלand she went up

    vataalH5927 →890 times

  • עִמּ֖וֹwith him

    imoH5973 →1050 times

  • דְּבוֹרָֽה׃Deborah

    devorahH1683 →10 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

    Judges 4:14

    Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor…

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 5:24

      As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because this will mean that the LORD has marched out before you to strike the camp…

    • Deuteronomy 9:3

      But understand that today the LORD your God goes across ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will destroy them and subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate…

    • Isaiah 52:12

      For you will not leave in a hurry nor flee in haste, for the LORD goes before you, and the God of Israel is your rear guard.

  • Through

    Judges 5:18

    Zebulun was a people who risked their lives; Naphtali, too, on the heights of the battlefield.

    it leads to

    • Judges 4:6

      She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the LORD, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Judges 5:15

    The princes of Issachar were with Deborah, and Issachar was with Barak, rushing into the valley at his heels. In the clans of Reuben there was great indecision.

    it leads to

    • Judges 4:14

      Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 25:27

    Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 33:11

      Please accept my gift that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” So Jacob pressed him until he accepted.

    • 1 Samuel 30:26

      When David arrived in Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the LORD’s enemies.”

  • Through

    Exodus 11:8

    And all these officials of yours will come and bow before me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that, I will depart.” And hot with anger, Moses left Pharaoh’s…

    it leads to

    • Exodus 12:31–33

      Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested.

Where this verse is studied

About Judges

Jael Kills Sisera — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Jael Kills Sisera — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; 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.