Bible Strands
Judges 5:18
Zebulun was a people who risked their lives; Naphtali, too, on the heights of the battlefield.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Deborah’s song addresses the assembled tribes of Israel, contrasting Zebulun and Naphtali with the previously noted inactive groups. It occurs immediately after the description of the Canaanite coalition gathering at Taanach and before the account of the ensuing battle.
The words — חֵרֵף (che.Ref) means “despised” and נַפְשׁוֹ (naf.sho) means “its life,” forming the phrase “despised its life” to denote voluntary risk of death. מְרוֹמֵי (me.ro.me) translates as “heights,” specifying the elevated terrain where Naphtali engaged in combat.
The thread — The mobilization of these two tribes recalls Deborah’s earlier summons of Barak from Kedesh in Naphtali (Judges 4:6) and the subsequent gathering of ten thousand men from Zebulun and Naphtali (Judges 4:10). Their prior commission to fight (Judges 4:14) provides the command structure that this verse now evaluates.
Why it lands — The text records Zebulun’s willingness to forfeit life and Naphtali’s positioning on high ground during the campaign. It requires the reader to acknowledge that tribal contribution is measured by concrete deployment and the acceptance of lethal risk.
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
Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.
Cross-references
- Judges 4:10 where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.
- Judges 4:6 She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the LORD, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun.
- Judges 4:14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
- Esther 4:16 “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”
- Acts 20:24 But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus—the ministry of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
- 1 John 3:16 By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
- Revelation 12:11 They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.