The children of Israel asked Yahweh (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
Parallel Translations
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The children of Israel asked Yahweh (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
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And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
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And the children of Israel asked of the LORD — for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Judges 20:27 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Joshua 18:1 The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The land was subdued before them.
- 1 Samuel 4:3-4 When the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has Yahweh defeated us today before the Philistines? Let’s get the ark of Yahweh’s covenant out of Shiloh and bring it to us, that it may come among us and save us out of the hand of our enemies.” So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of Armies, who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
- Judges 20:18 The children of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God. They asked, “Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin?” Yahweh said, “Judah first.”
- Numbers 27:21 He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before Yahweh. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.”
- Judges 20:23 The children of Israel went up and wept before Yahweh until evening; and they asked of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I again draw near to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?” Yahweh said, “Go up against him.”
- Psalms 78:60-61 so that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men, and delivered his strength into captivity, his glory into the adversary’s hand.
- Isaiah 59:1 Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save; nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear.
- Jeremiah 7:12 “But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain To wit, in Shiloh.
To wit, in Shiloh.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jdg 20:27 And the children of Israel enquired of…
Jdg 20:27 And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God [was] there in those days,
Ver. 27. And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord.] Now they could find the way to do everything well, as having paid for their learning. Affliction exciteth devotion; but
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“ Rarae fumant felicibus arae. ”
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 Inquired of the Lord, to wit, by Urim and…
Inquired of the Lord, to wit, by Urim and Thummim, Num 27:21.
Was there in Shiloh, where they were now assembled.
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 And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord,....…
And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord,.... By the Word of the Lord, as the Targum, and which has the same expression in Jdg 20:18 for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days; in Shiloh, where the tabernacle was.
for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days; in Shiloh, where the tabernacle was.
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Judges 20:28
jdg 20:28
jdg 20:28
jdg 20:28And Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,.... Before the ark, ministering before the Lord, which shows that this affair was long before the times of Samson, though placed after them; or otherwise Phinehas must have been more than three hundred years of age, which is not probable (r). Phinehas's standing before the ark was the posture of the priest when he inquired of the Lord for any by Urim and Thummim; the person that inquired stood before him that was inquired of, as Kimchi observes, and he that was inquired of stood before the Shechinah, or the presence of the divine Majesty, of which the ark was a symbol:
saying, shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? in which the question is put in somewhat different manner than before, not only desiring to know whether it was the will of God they should renew the battle or not, since Benjamin was their brother, but whether they should have success or not; intimating, that if the Lord would bless and help them, they were willing to go up, but if not they chose to desist; for they were fully convinced now they were wrong in depending on their numbers, or the justness of their cause; whereas success depended wholly on the will and pleasure of God, to which they desired to submit:
and the Lord said, go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into thine hand; now they are not only directed to go up to the battle, but are promised victory.
(r) Vid. Rainold. de lib. Apocryph. Praelect. 149, 150. p. 345, 353, 354.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jdg 20:27. The children of Israel inquired of the…
Jdg 20:27. The children of Israel inquired of the Lord — They had inquired of the Lord before, but not as they ought to have done. For, confiding in the justice of their cause, and their vast forces, they seem to have made but slight and languid addresses to God before they undertook the war.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 27. The ark… was there in those days —…
27. The ark… was there in those days — When and why it was brought there, and how many days it continued there, the sacred writer does not tell us, and we must be content to remain uninformed. Some understand, as our translators seem to have done, that the adverb there refers to Shiloh, and that Beth-el in the Hebrew text of Jdg_20:26; Jdg_20:18 should be rendered house of God, meaning the tabernacle at Shiloh; but the tabernacle is never called Beth-el. Hengstenberg and Keil suppose that the ark was brought only temporarily to Beth-el, and to serve some special design on this occasion; but the phrase in those days is hardly consistent with such an explanation. Compare the same phrase in Jdg_18:1; Jdg_19:1; Jdg_21:25, and frequently. And if the ark had been brought from Shiloh merely for this occasion, it is not clear why it was not brought to Mizpeh rather than to Beth-el. More plausible is the supposition, that as Beth-el was a sacred place in Israelitish history, the ark was sometimes brought there, accompanied by the high priest, and abode there for many days at a time, in honour of the holy spot which Jacob regarded as the gate of heaven. Gen_28:17. Hence, after Shiloh’s desolation, it naturally became a central seat of worship. See 1Sa_10:3, note.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (27) Enquired of the Lord—i.e., of Jehovah, as in…
(27) Enquired of the Lord—i.e., of Jehovah, as in Jdg_20:23. On the occasion of their first general inquiry (Jdg_20:18) it is said that they “enquired of Elohim,” but it is impossible to draw any certain inferences from this change of expression. It is clear, however, that the nation had been thoroughly and beneficially humiliated by these two terrible reverses, and that their approach to Jehovah on this occasion was far more solemn and devout than it had been at first.
Was there—i.e., at Bethel, though Bethel has not been mentioned in the English Version, owing to the erroneous rendering of the name by “House of God” in Jdg_20:18-26.
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 Enquired of the Lord. In the Hebrew, Asked the…
Enquired of the Lord. In the Hebrew, Asked the Lord, as in vers. 18, 23. For the ark of the covenant, etc. A most important statement, defining the time of these occurrences, within the lifetime of Phinehas, and also giving a strong intimation that the writer of these words lived after the tabernacle had been removed from Shiloh and its neighbourhood to Jerusalem. Was there. Where? The natural answer to be given is, At Bethel; for Bethel is the only place that has been named. But it is not in accordance with the other intimations given us concerning the tabernacle, that Bethel should be its resting-place under the high priesthood of Phinehas. In Jos_18:1 we have the formal pitching of the tabernacle of the congregation at Shiloh; in Jos_22:12 we find it there, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest before it; in 1Sa_1:3 1Sa_2:14 1Sa_3:21 1Sa_4:3, we find it settled there till taken by the Philistines; and Psa_78:60 we find Shiloh described as the abode of the tabernacle till its capture by the Philistines, and there is no hint anywhere of Bethel or any other place having been the resting-place of the ark before it fell into the hands of the Philistines. Neither, again, is the explanation of some commentators, that the words the ark... was there in those days implies "that the ark of the covenant was only temporarily at Bethel," at all satisfactory. In those days has naturally a much wider and broader application, like the expression, (Jud_1:17:6 18:1) In those days there was no king in Israel, and contrasts the time of Phinehas and the judges with the times of the monarchy, when the ark and the high priest were at Jerusalem. Unless, therefore, we understand Bethel in vers. 18, 26, 31 to mean the house of God, which seems quite impossible, we must interpret the word there to mean Shiloh, and suppose that the writer took no count of the temporary removal to Bethel for the convenience of consultation, but considered that it was at Shiloh in one sense, though momentarily it was a few miles off. Possibly too in the fuller narrative, of which we have here the abridgment, the name of Shiloh was mentioned as that to which there referred.
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 for the ark of the covenant of God ...…
for the ark of the covenant of God ... was serving before the ark in those days
This is background information that the author inserted to help the reader understand how the people asked Yahweh for an answer. (See: Background Information)
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was there in those days
"was at Bethel in those days"
was serving before the ark
The full meaning of this statement can be made explicit. AT: "was serving as priest before the ark" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Attack
The full meaning of this statement can be made explicit. AT: "Attack the army of Benjamin" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
ark of the covenant
God
Phinehas
Eleazar
Aaron
brother
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.