Bible Strands
1 Samuel 13:18
another toward Beth-horon, and the third down the border road overlooking the Valley of Zeboim facing the wilderness.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the deployment of three Philistine raiding parties as they leave their main camp. This occurs immediately after Saul’s unauthorized sacrifice and just before the engagement at Michmash.
The words — בֵּית חוֹרוֹן (Beth-horon) marks the western destination, while רֹאשׁ (Rosh) denotes the military company or division. יִפְנֶה (yifne) literally means “it turned,” specifying the directional march of the second unit.
The thread — Beth-horon appears in Joshua 16:3 and Joshua 18:13 as a boundary marker in central Canaan. Zeboim is listed among the returned settlements in Nehemiah 11:34.
Why it lands — The verse maps the tactical spread of an enemy force across known terrain. It forces the reader to track how fragmented opposition moves through specific geographic points before converging on a single confrontation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And another company turned the way to Beth–horon: and another company turned to the way of the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.
Cross-references
- Nehemiah 11:34 Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,
- Joshua 18:13 From there the border crossed over to the southern slope of Luz (that is, Bethel) and went down to Ataroth-addar on the hill south of Lower Beth-horon.
- Joshua 16:3 Then it descended westward to the border of the Japhletites as far as the border of Lower Beth-horon and on to Gezer, and it ended at the Sea.
- Genesis 14:2 went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
- Joshua 10:11 As they fled before Israel along the descent from Beth-horon to Azekah, the LORD cast down on them large hailstones from the sky, and more of them were killed by the hailstones than by the swords of the Israelites.
- Joshua 16:5 This was the territory of the descendants of Ephraim by their clans: The border of their inheritance went from Ataroth-addar in the east to Upper Beth-horon
- 1 Chronicles 6:68 Jokmeam, Beth-horon,
- 2 Chronicles 8:5 He rebuilt Upper and Lower Beth-horon as fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars,
- Hosea 11:8 How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassion is stirred!