Bible Strands
Judges 18:12
They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. That is why the place west of Kiriath-jearim is called Mahaneh-dan to this day.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative records the Danite war party’s stopover after departing Zorah and Eshtaol, noting their encampment near Kiriath-jearim in Judah before they proceed toward the hill country of Ephraim.
The words — קָרְאוּ (ka.re.'U) = they called; the text uses this verb to explain the etymology of Mahaneh-dan, literally stating the Danites named the area west of Kiriath-jearim after their own tribal identity.
The thread — Mahaneh-dan appears earlier as a territorial marker in Judges 13:25, while Kiriath-jearim is identified as Kiriath-baal in Joshua 15:60 and later functions as the ark’s resting site in 1 Chronicles 13:5.
Why it lands — The verse documents how military movements created permanent geographical markers, requiring the reader to track tribal relocations and the evolving territorial claims of Israel’s settlement period.
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 they went up, and pitched in Kirjath–jearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahaneh–dan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjath–jearim.
Cross-references
- Judges 13:25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
- Joshua 15:60 Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), and Rabbah—two cities, along with their villages.
- 1 Chronicles 13:5 So David assembled all Israel, from the River Shihor in Egypt to Lebo-hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.
- 1 Samuel 7:1 Then the men of Kiriath-jearim came for the ark of the LORD and took it into Abinadab’s house on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to guard the ark of the LORD.
- 2 Chronicles 1:4 Now David had brought the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to the place he had prepared for it, because he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.