Bible Strands
Judges 18:5
Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God to determine whether we will have a successful journey.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The five Danite scouts address Micah’s hired Levite priest just before departing to assess the land of Laish. They pause to request divine guidance regarding the outcome of their mission.
The words — שְׁאַל (she.'al) = enquire and תַצְלִיחַ (tatz.Li.ach) = will succeed. These terms frame the scouts' direct request for a yes-or-no verdict on their expedition.
The thread — The practice of seeking divine direction appears in 1 Kings 22:5, while Isaiah 30:1 warns against forming alliances without God's counsel. Acts 8:10 records a different dynamic where a crowd attributes divine power to a human figure.
Why it lands — The text records a plain inquiry about mission success before recording the priest's response. It requires the reader to note that seeking divine verdicts for human plans is a repeated biblical pattern, regardless of the spiritual reliability of the source consulted.
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 said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 22:5 But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire first for the word of the LORD.”
- Isaiah 30:1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.
- Acts 8:10 and all the people, from the least to the greatest, heeded his words and said, “This man is the divine power called the Great Power.”
- Hosea 4:12 My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.
- Judges 17:5 Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained one of his sons as his priest.
- Judges 17:13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”
- Judges 18:14 Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image, and a molten idol? Now think about what you should do.”
- 2 Kings 16:15 Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, as well as the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land. Splatter on the altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to seek guidance.”
- Ezekiel 21:21 For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the liver.