The house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (The name of the city before that was Luz.) The watchers saw a man come out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.” He showed them the entrance into the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man and all his family go. The man went into the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.
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Judges 1:23-26 sits inside this longer paragraph.
The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and Yahweh was with them. The house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (The name of the city before that was Luz.) The watchers saw a man come out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.” He showed them the entrance into the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man and all his family go. The man went into the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.
Parallel Translations
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The house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (The name of the city before that was Luz.)
The watchers saw a man come out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.”
He showed them the entrance into the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man and all his family go.
The man went into the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.
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And the house of Joseph sent to descry Beth-el. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)
And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy.
And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family.
And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.
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And the house of Joseph sent to spy out Beth-el — now the name of the city beforetime was Luz.
And the watchers saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him: 'Show us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with thee.'
And he showed them the entrance into the city, and they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go and all his family.
And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz, which is the name thereof unto this day.
Cross-references (11)
- Genesis 28:19 (v23) He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
- Genesis 48:3 (v23) Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
- Genesis 35:6 (v23) So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.
- Joshua 6:22-25 (v25) Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring the woman and all that she has out from…
- 2 Kings 7:6 (v26) For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear the sound of chariots, and the sound of horses, even the noise of a great army; and…
Show all 11 cross-references
- Joshua 2:1 (v23) Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came…
- Joshua 2:12-14 (v24) Now therefore, please swear to me by Yahweh, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and…
- Joshua 7:2 (v23) Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out…
- Judges 18:2 (v23) The children of Dan sent five men of their family from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land…
- 1 Samuel 30:15 (v24) David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this troop?” He said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and not deliver me up…
- 2 Chronicles 1:17 (v26) They brought up and brought out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for one hundred fifty. They also exported…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv23–26 Jdg 1:23 And the house of Joseph sent to…
Jdg 1:23 And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before [was] Luz.)
Ver. 23. Now the name of the city before was Luz,] i.e., An almond, or a filbert; perhaps from the plenty of such fruits there growing: like as Cerasus in Pontus had its name from cherries, Elaea from olives, &c.
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23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Ver. 23. Out of the fire] viz. of hell; as the angel pulled Lot out of Sodom, as ye would save a drowning man, though ye pulled off some of his hair to save him. {a} Hic est depingendus Satan et Tartarus, et career atrocissimus et luctuoaus, in quo vere sit strider dentium et fletus, saith Aretins. Those that are obstinate, and receive not reproofs, are to be terrified and told of the horror of hell, those seas of vengeance, that worm that never dieth, torments without end and past imagination.
Even the garment spotted] As Nero’s was, when he rode in the same horse litter with his own mother. (Sueton.) The phrase is thought to be taken either from legal impurities of leprous garments, by touching of which men were defiled, Lev 14:54-57; or else from the profuse drunkenness and filthiness of the Gnostics, which sometimes defiled their garments.
{a} Haec est sancta violentia, optabilis rapina. Jerome.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv24–26 The entrance into the city; on which side it…
The entrance into the city; on which side it is weakest, that we may best invade and take it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv23–26 And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel,....…
And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel,.... To reconnoitre the place, to observe its passes and avenues, which were most accessible, and to examine the walls of it, where they were weakest and least defended:
now the name of the city before was Luz; which signifies a "nut"; perhaps it was so called from large numbers of nut trees which grew near it; the Jews suggest as if it was like a nut, no entrance into it but through a cave or some subterraneous passage, see Gen 28:19.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv24–26 The entrance - On which side it is weakest,…
The entrance - On which side it is weakest, that we might best invade and take it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv23, 24, 26 Verse 23. Beth-el - the name of the city…
Verse 23. Beth-el - the name of the city before was Luz.] Concerning this city and its names, See Clarke on Ge 28:19.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v26 Jdg 1:26. The man went and built a city…
Jdg 1:26. The man went and built a city — Which is an argument that the children of Ephraim dismissed him and his family, with all their goods and estate. The land of the Hittites — Where the Hittites fixed themselves after they were driven out of Canaan, which seems to have been northward from Canaan, and not far distant from it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v26 The site of this new Luz is not known,…
The site of this new Luz is not known, but “the land of the Hittites” was apparently in the north of Palestine, on the borders of Syria (Gen 10:15 note).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv23, 24, 26 Besieging. Hebrew, "sent to descry," or they came upon…
Besieging. Hebrew, "sent to descry," or they came upon it like spies.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv24, 26 the spies . . . said, . . .…
the spies . . . said, . . . Show us, . . . the entrance into the city--that is, the avenues to the city, and the weakest part of the walls.
we will show thee mercy--The Israelites might employ these means of getting possession of a place which was divinely appropriated to them: they might promise life and rewards to this man, though he and all the Canaanites were doomed to destruction (Jos 2:12-14); but we may assume the promise was suspended on his embracing the true religion, or quitting the country, as he did. If they had seen him to be firmly opposed to either of these alternatives, they would not have constrained him by promises any more than by threats to betray his countrymen. But if they found him disposed to be serviceable, and to aid the invaders in executing the will of God, they might promise to spare him.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv23–26 23. Sent to descry — Or, they reconnoitred. They…
23. Sent to descry — Or, they reconnoitred. They set a secret watch against Beth-el, to obtain such information as would enable them most easily to capture the city.
Luz — Cassel distinguishes between Beth-el and Luz as follows: “As Jebus and Jerusalem are always identified, so it is everywhere remarked of Beth-el that it was formerly Luz; and as Jebus indicated particularly the fortress, Jerusalem the city — although the latter name also embraced both — so a similar relation must be assumed to have existed between Beth-el and Luz. The latter was evidently a fortress high and strong, whose city descended along the mountain slope.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv23–26 23. sent to spy out Beth-el] lit. made a…
23. sent to spy out Beth-el] lit. made a reconnaissance at B. Perhaps we should read ‘encamped against B.,’ as LXX and Vulgate imply.
Now the name … Luz] A gloss, as in Gen_28:19; cf. ib. Gen_35:6, Gen_48:3, Jos_18:13 P. In Jos_16:2 JE the two places are distinguished, ‘from Beth-el to Luz’; but the text is uncertain, and in the LXX the two are usually identified. Luz is supposed to mean ‘almond-tree’; more suggestively Winckler proposes ‘asylum,’ from the Arab lâdha ‘to seek a refuge’ (Gesch. Isr. 2:65 f.). If the latter is right, Luz may have been a sanctuary before it became famous under the name of Beth-el. According to JE the place was called Beth-el because Jacob set up a stone there after his vision when he fled from Esau (Gen_28:10-22); according to P, because God appeared to him there when he returned from Paddan-aram (Gen_35:9-15).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv23, 24, 26 (23) To descry Beth-el.—The word perhaps implies a regular…
(23) To descry Beth-el.—The word perhaps implies a regular siege, and it is so understood by the LXX. (Cod. Alex.) and the Vulgate.
Luz.—We are also told that this was the original name of the city in Gen_28:19; but there seems to be in that verse a distinction between the city and the place of Jacob’s dream. (Comp. Jos_16:2.) The name means either “hazel,” or “sinking,” i.e., a valley depression.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv23–24 Bethel, now Beitin. The name (house of God) had…
Bethel, now Beitin. The name (house of God) had been given by Jacob, (Gen_28:19) but obviously would not be likely to be adopted by the Canaanitish inhabitants, by whom it was called Luz. As soon, however, as the Ephraimites conquered it, they reimposed the name, in memory of their father Jacob. The Saxon charters exhibit an analogous change in such transitions of name, as that from Bedericksworth to Bury St. Edmunds, which took place after the transfer of St. Edmund"s body to the church there, the old name continuing for a time along with the new one, but at last disappearing.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v25 they attacked the city
they attacked the city
Here "city" represents the people. AT: "they attacked the people of the city" (See: Metonymy)
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with the edge of the sword
"with the point of the sword." Here "sword" represents the swords and other weapons that the soldiers used in battle. AT: "with their swords" or "with their weapons" (See: Synecdoche)
get away
This is an idiom. AT: "escape" (See: Idiom)
Luz
This new town started in the land of the Hittites was named after the town of Luz, near Bethel, that the man had left.
which is its name to this day
"which is still its name." Here "to this day" refers to the time when the book of Judges was written.
translationWords
sword
family
Hittite
name
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.