Bible Strands
1 Samuel 13:5
Now the Philistines assembled to fight against Israel with three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the Philistine army assembling after Saul’s initial strike, occurring just as the remnant of Israel gathers at Gilgal.
The words — נֶאֶסְפ֣וּ (ne.'es.Fu) denotes a military gathering, while רֶ֙כֶב֙ (re.khev) specifies the chariotry forming the core of their offensive.
The thread — The phrase “sand on the seashore” echoes the enemy host in Joshua 11:4, and the camp location at Michmash sets the stage for the engagement recorded in 1 Samuel 14:23.
Why it lands — The text quantifies the enemy force to establish the tactical imbalance, requiring the reader to observe the precise military staging before the narrative shifts to human fear and divine action.
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 the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Beth–aven.
Cross-references
- Joshua 11:4 So these kings came out with all their armies, a multitude as numerous as the sand on the seashore, along with a great number of horses and chariots.
- 1 Samuel 14:23 So the LORD saved Israel that day, and the battle moved on beyond Beth-aven.
- Joshua 18:12 On the north side their border began at the Jordan, went up past the northern slope of Jericho, headed west through the hill country, and came out at the wilderness of Beth-aven.
- Genesis 22:17 I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
- Joshua 7:2 Meanwhile, Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.
- Judges 7:12 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore.
- 2 Chronicles 1:9 Now, O LORD God, let Your promise to my father David be fulfilled. For You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.
- Isaiah 48:19 Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and your offspring as numerous as its grains; their name would never be cut off or eliminated from My presence.”
- Jeremiah 15:8 I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. I will bring a destroyer at noon against the mothers of young men. I will suddenly bring upon them anguish and dismay.
- Hosea 4:15 Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel, may Judah avoid such guilt! Do not journey to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear on oath, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’