Bible Strands
1 Samuel 13:7
Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul, however, remained at Gilgal, and all his troops were quaking in fear.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the military crisis during Saul’s reign as his army scatters and Samuel remains absent from Gilgal.
The words — The text highlights עִבְרִ֗ים ('iv.Rim), meaning Hebrews, and עָֽבְרוּ ('a.ve.Ru), meaning they passed over, to record that some Israelites fled across the Jordan River.
The thread — The scattering of troops and flight into foreign lands echoes the covenant warnings of Leviticus 26:17 and Leviticus 26:36, while the mention of Gad and Gilead recalls the territorial survey in Numbers 32:1.
Why it lands — The passage demands that a reader recognize the immediate consequence of broken leadership and fear: the collapse of military cohesion and the forced displacement of the people.
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 some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 26:17 And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.
- Leviticus 26:36 As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
- Numbers 32:1 Now the Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, surveyed the lands of Jazer and Gilead, and they saw that the region was suitable for livestock.
- Numbers 32:33 So Moses gave to the Gadites, to the Reubenites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the land including its cities and the territory surrounding them.
- Deuteronomy 3:12 So at that time we took possession of this land. To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the land beyond Aroer along the Arnon Valley, and half the hill country of Gilead, along with its cities.
- Deuteronomy 20:8 Then the officers shall speak further to the army, saying, “Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him return home, so that the hearts of his brothers will not melt like his own.”
- Deuteronomy 28:25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Joshua 13:24 This is what Moses had given to the clans of the tribe of Gad:
- Judges 7:3 Now, therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the men: ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand of them turned back, but ten thousand remained.
- Hosea 11:10 They will walk after the LORD; He will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west.