Bible Strands
Judges 18:28
There was no one to deliver them, because the city was far from Sidon and had no alliance with anyone; it was in a valley near Beth-rehob. And the Danites rebuilt the city and lived there.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator explains the Danites' successful occupation of Laish immediately after the inhabitants are struck down, noting the city's geographic and political isolation. The words — מַצִּיל (ma.Tzil) translates to "deliverer," and רְחוֹקָה (re.cho.kah) means "far," which together state that distance and lack of alliance prevented rescue. The thread — The location near Beth-rehob aligns with the northern boundary surveyed in Numbers 13:21, while the city's former security matches the description in Judges 18:7. Why it lands — The text states that geographic isolation and political neutrality provide no defense against conquest, requiring readers to identify what actually guarantees their own safety.
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 no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth–rehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 10:6 When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth-rehob and Zoba, as well as a thousand men from the king of Maacah and twelve thousand men from Tob.
- Numbers 13:21 So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo-hamath.
- 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.
- Psalms 7:2 or they will shred my soul like a lion and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
- Joshua 11:8 and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, leaving no survivors.
- 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.
- 2 Samuel 14:6 And your maidservant had two sons who were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him.
- Psalms 50:22 Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
- Isaiah 23:4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: “I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men or brought up young women.”
- Isaiah 23:12 He said, “You shall rejoice no more, O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus—even there you will find no rest.”