Bible Strands
Judges 1:34
The Amorites forced the Danites into the hill country and did not allow them to come down into the plain.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the post-conquest tribal distribution, noting the Danites' inability to secure their allotted plains while surrounded by the Amorites. This account occurs during the judges period, positioned between the Naphtali conquest report and the Danites' subsequent search for new territory.
The words — The verb וַיִּלְחַצוּ (va-yilchazu) literally means "they pressed" or "they forced," describing the Amorites' active coercion. The directional phrase הַהָרָה (ha-harah) translates to "the hill country," establishing the geographic boundary the Danites were barred from crossing.
The thread — This territorial displacement echoes Joshua 19:47, where the Danites lose their original allotment to fight Leshem, and Judges 18:1, which documents their migration. The same Amorite pressure and forced labor dynamic frames Judges 1:35 and the Naphtali situation in Judges 1:33.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to trace how incomplete conquest and external military pressure directly cause tribal displacement. It demands a plain assessment of how compromised obedience produces long-term geographic and social 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 the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley:
Cross-references
- Joshua 19:47 (Later, when the territory of the Danites was lost to them, they went up and fought against Leshem, captured it, and put it to the sword. So they took possession of Leshem, settled there, and renamed it after their father Dan.)
- Judges 18:1 In those days there was no king in Israel, and the tribe of the Danites was looking for territory to occupy. For up to that time they had not come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.