The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years.
Parallel Translations
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The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years.
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And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
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And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Judges 4:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Judges 1:19 Yahweh was with Judah, and drove out the inhabitants of the hill country; for he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.
- Psalms 106:42 Their enemies also oppressed them. They were brought into subjection under their hand.
- Judges 3:9 When the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
- Deuteronomy 28:29 You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed always, and there will be no one to save you.
- Deuteronomy 28:33 A nation which you don’t know will eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always,
- Deuteronomy 28:47-48 Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; therefore you will serve your enemies whom Yahweh sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
- Joshua 17:16 The children of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. All the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are in Beth Shean and its towns, and those who are in the valley of Jezreel.”
- Judges 3:15 But when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a savior for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.
- Judges 5:8 They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
- Judges 10:16 They put away the foreign gods from among them and served Yahweh; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
- 1 Samuel 7:8 The children of Israel said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying to Yahweh our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.”
- Psalms 50:15 Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
- Psalms 78:34 When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly.
- Jeremiah 2:27-28 who tell wood, ‘You are my father,’ and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me,’ for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us!’ “But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jdg 4:3 And the children of Israel cried unto…
Jdg 4:3 And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
Ver. 3. He mightily oppressed the children of Israel.] See Jdg 4:2. In the Canaanites the same wickedness prospereth that is punished in Israel. Our very profession hurteth us, if we be not innocent.
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 More than the former tyrants; partly from his malice…
More than the former tyrants; partly from his malice and hatred against the Israelites; and principally from God’s just judgement, the growing punishment being most suitable to their aggravated wickedness.
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 cried unto the Lord,....…
And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord,.... Because of their hard bondage, and begged deliverance from it, being brought to a sense of their sins, and humbled for them:
for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; the same with the , chariots which carried scythes at the side of them, fastened to the orbs of the wheels (x), and were on both sides; and in some stood out ten cubits (y) which running furiously among the infantry, cut them to pieces in a terrible manner; of which Cyrus had in his army at first but an hundred, afterwards increased to three hundred (z); and yet here a petty prince of Canaan had nine hundred of them; and which Josephus (a) has increased, beyond all belief, to the number of three thousand; which struck great terror into the Israelites, and who therefore durst not attempt to shake off his yoke, but cried to the Lord for help:
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and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel; as they increased their sins, and repeated their revolts, the Lord increased their oppressions, and continued them the longer; the first was only eight years, the next eighteen, and this twenty, and which was a very heavy one; the other being foreign princes that oppressed them, but this a Canaanitish king, an implacable enemy, and who doubtless used them the more severely for what they had done to his ancestors, killed his father or grandfather, burnt the city of Hazor, and destroyed the inhabitants of it in Joshua's time; and the servitude was the harder, and the more intolerable to the Israelites, that they were under a people whose land had been given them to possess, and whom they had expelled, and now were become subject to them.
(x) Vid. Suidam in voce (y) Curtius, l. 4. c. 9, 12, 15. Liv. Hist. l. 37. c. 41. (z) Xenophon. Cyropaedia, l. 6. c. 13. (a) Antiqu. l. 5. c. 5. sect. 1.
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 Mightily oppressed - More than former tyrants; from his…
Mightily oppressed - More than former tyrants; from his malice and hatred against the Israelites; and from God's just judgment, the growing punishment being suitable to their aggravated wickedness.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. Nine hundred chariots of iron] Chariots armed…
Verse 3. Nine hundred chariots of iron] Chariots armed with iron scythes, as is generally supposed; they could not have been made all of iron, but they might have been shod with iron, or had iron scythes projecting from the axle on each side, by which infantry might be easily cut down or thrown into confusion. The ancient Britons are said to have had such chariots.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jdg 4:3. Mightily oppressed — More than former tyrants,…
Jdg 4:3. Mightily oppressed — More than former tyrants, from his malice and hatred against the Israelites, and from God’s just judgment, the growing punishment being suitable to their aggravated wickedness.
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 Oppressed - The same word is used Exo 3:9…
Oppressed - The same word is used Exo 3:9 of the oppression of Israel by the Egyptians. If they were put to task-work in hewing timber, their condition was very like that of their ancestors making bricks.
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 Scythes. Hebrew, "chariots of iron." (Calmet)
Scythes. Hebrew, "chariots of iron." (Calmet)
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).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Israel cried — Compare Jdg_3:9; Jdg_3:15, note.
3. Israel cried — Compare Jdg_3:9; Jdg_3:15, note.
Nine hundred chariots — The Jabin with whom Joshua fought had also many chariots. For cut of ancient war chariot, see at Jos_11:4.
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 (3) Cried unto the Lord.—Jdg_3:9; Jdg_3:15; Psa_107:13.
(3) Cried unto the Lord.—Jdg_3:9; Jdg_3:15; Psa_107:13.
Nine hundred.—Josephus magnifies the number to 3,000.
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Chariots of iron.—Jdg_1:19; Jos_17:10. We may notice that as the children of Israel burnt these chariots at Misrephoth-maim (Joshua 11), they could not have been of solid iron throughout.
Mightily oppressed.—The word “mightily” is rendered “sharply” in Jdg_8:1; “by force” in 1Sa_2:16.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.