Bible Strands
Judges 18:27
After they had taken Micah’s idols and his priest, they went to Laish, to a quiet and unsuspecting people, and they struck them with their swords and burned down the city.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the Danite tribe's movements after seizing Micah’s carved images and hired priest, as they advance on the city of Laish. This follows Micah’s retreat once he recognizes the armed party's overwhelming strength.
The words — לָקְח֜וּ (la.ke.Chu) translates literally as "they took," and עָשָׂ֣ה ('a.Sah) means "he had made," directly tying the stolen cult objects to their human creator.
The thread — The capture of this undefended city parallels the later territorial adjustment in Joshua 19:47, where displaced Danites seize Leshem, and actualizes the scout's report in Judges 18:10 that God would deliver the valley into their hands.
Why it lands — The text states that a quiet, isolated community falls to armed plunder and arson, leaving the reader to note how geographic distance from allies enables conquest and how religious artifacts move alongside military force.
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 took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.
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 18:7 So the five men departed and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living securely, like the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. There was nothing lacking in the land and no oppressive ruler. And they were far away from the Sidonians and had no alliance with anyone.
- Judges 18:10 When you enter, you will come to an unsuspecting people and a spacious land, for God has delivered it into your hand. It is a place where nothing on earth is lacking.”
- Deuteronomy 33:22 Concerning Dan he said: “Dan is a lion’s cub, leaping out of Bashan.”
- Joshua 11:11 The Israelites put everyone in Hazor to the sword, devoting them to destruction. Nothing that breathed remained, and Joshua burned down Hazor itself.