Bible Strands
Judges 4:5
And she would sit under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where the Israelites would go up to her for judgment.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative records Deborah’s judicial routine at a specific geographic location before she summons Barak for military command. The words — יוֹשֶׁבֶת (yošhevet) denotes a settled dwelling or sitting, paired with תּוֹמֶר (tōmer), literally “the palm tree,” identifying the fixed landmark. The thread — The judicial motif appears in Exodus 18:13 when Moses sits to judge the people from morning to evening, while Genesis 35:8 records a different Deborah buried under an oak near Bethel. Why it lands — It requires the reader to recognize that judicial authority in Israel was exercised through a consistent, publicly accessible location rather than through mobile or temporary tribunals.
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 she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth–el in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
Cross-references
- Exodus 18:19 Now listen to me; I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their causes to Him.
- Genesis 35:8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.
- Exodus 18:13 The next day Moses took his seat to judge the people, and they stood around him from morning until evening.
- Deuteronomy 17:8 If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the LORD your God will choose.
- Joshua 16:2 It went on from Bethel (that is, Luz) and proceeded to the border of the Archites in Ataroth.
- Joshua 18:22 Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,
- Joshua 18:25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,
- 1 Samuel 1:1 Now there was a man named Elkanah who was from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
- Jeremiah 31:15 This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
- Exodus 18:16 “Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me to judge between one man and another, and I make known to them the statutes and laws of God.”