Bible Strands
Judges 17:7
And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been residing within the clan of Judah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator introduces a displaced Levite to the reader during a period of tribal fragmentation, immediately after noting that Israel lacked centralized leadership and moral uniformity. This character appears at the threshold of Micah’s household, setting the stage for unauthorized religious activity.
The words — נַ֗עַר (Na'ar) denotes a young man or youth, while מִ/בֵּ֥ית לֶ֙חֶם֙ (mi/Beit lechem) identifies his origin as Bethlehem. These terms ground the character’s identity in a specific geographic and demographic marker.
The thread — The geographic marker Bethlehem in Judah recurs in Ruth 1:1 during the judges period, Micah 5:2 as a prophetic birthplace, and Matthew 2:1 in the nativity narrative. Each reference anchors a pivotal figure or event to this Judahite town.
Why it lands — The text places a trained Levite outside his tribal jurisdiction, demonstrating how religious authority had become mobile and unregulated. It asks the reader to recognize that institutional collapse enables individuals to operate without established oversight.
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 there was a young man out of Beth–lehem–judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.
Cross-references
- Ruth 1:1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land of Moab.
- Micah 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity.
- Matthew 2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,
- Matthew 2:5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
- Genesis 35:19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
- Joshua 19:15 It also included Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem. There were twelve cities, along with their villages.
- Judges 19:1 Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.