Bible Strands
1 Samuel 5:9
But after they had moved the ark to Gath, the LORD’s hand was also against that city, throwing it into great confusion and afflicting the men of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the Philistines' reaction after relocating the ark to Gath, following their earlier consultation with city rulers in Ashdod. This moment occurs during their failed attempt to move the ark from one Philistine city to another to escape divine judgment.
The words — יַד־יְהוָה (yad-Yahweh) literally means "the hand of Yahweh" and functions as a biblical idiom for direct divine action or judgment. The verb הֵסַבּוּ (he.Sa.bu) denotes the Philistines' deliberate, repeated act of moving the ark to Gath.
The thread — This motif of divine opposition appears in 1 Samuel 5:6, where the hand of the LORD afflicts Ashdod with tumors, and in Deuteronomy 2:15, where it eliminates a people from the camp. 1 Samuel 7:13 later uses the same phrase to mark the Philistines' final subjugation.
Why it lands — The text states that Yahweh’s hand actively opposes the city, causing great confusion and afflicting men of all ages with tumors. This requires the reader to acknowledge that human attempts to relocate or manage divine presence cannot neutralize its authority or delay its consequences.
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 it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 5:6 Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors.
- Deuteronomy 2:15 Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished.
- 1 Samuel 7:13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they stopped invading the territory of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
- 1 Samuel 12:15 But if you disobey the LORD and rebel against His command, then the hand of the LORD will be against you as it was against your fathers.
- Psalms 78:66 He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame.
- 1 Samuel 5:11 Then the Ekronites called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people!” For a deadly confusion had pervaded the city; the hand of God was very heavy upon it.
- 1 Samuel 6:4 “What guilt offering should we send back to Him?” asked the Philistines. “Five gold tumors and five gold rats,” they said, “according to the number of rulers of the Philistines, since the same plague has struck both you and your rulers.
- 1 Samuel 6:11 Then they put the ark of the LORD on the cart, along with the chest containing the gold rats and the images of the tumors.
- Amos 5:19 It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.
- Amos 9:1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said: “Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Topple them on the heads of all the people, and I will kill the rest with the sword. None of those who flee will get away; none of the fugitives will escape.