Bible Strands
Judges 6:31
But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Are you contending for Baal? Are you trying to save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If Baal is a god, let him contend for himself with the one who has torn down his altar.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joash addresses the men of the city who have gathered to demand the death of his son Gideon for destroying a Baal altar. He speaks this public rebuttal immediately after his son's act of iconoclasm and before the crowd can carry out their sentence.
The words — The Hebrew תְּרִיבֻן (te.ri.Vu/n) literally means "will you contend" or "will you plead a case," framing the dispute as a legal trial rather than a simple religious debate. This verb root (רִיב) recurs in legal and covenantal contexts where God's supremacy is tested against rival claims.
The thread — The challenge to a false deity to "contend for himself" echoes the prophetic dismissal of idols in Jeremiah 10:5 and 10:11, which declare their inability to speak or act. Paul later reinforces this theological boundary in 1 Corinthians 8:4 by stating that idols are nothing and no true God competes with them.
Why it lands — The text demands a clear-eyed rejection of idolatry by treating it as a legal impossibility rather than a spiritual contest. It requires the reader to stop legitimizing false gods through debate and instead recognize their inherent powerlessness.
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 Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 10:5 Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.”
- Jeremiah 10:11 Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.”
- 1 Corinthians 8:4 So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.
- Ephesians 5:11 Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
- Exodus 23:2 You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.
- Numbers 14:6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes
- Deuteronomy 13:5 Such a prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has advocated rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way in which the LORD your God has commanded you to walk. So you must purge the evil from among you.
- Deuteronomy 17:2 If a man or woman among you in one of the towns that the LORD your God gives you is found doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God by transgressing His covenant
- 1 Kings 18:27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them, saying, “Shout louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!”
- 1 Kings 18:29 Midday passed, and they kept on raving until the time of the evening sacrifice. But there was no response; no one answered, no one paid attention.