Bible Strands
Judges 8:32
Later, Gideon son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the death and burial of Gideon at the close of his leadership, marking the immediate transition to Israel’s return to idolatry. The text addresses the reader at a historical pivot point where tribal cohesion fractures after a judge’s passing.
The words — בְּשֵׂיבָה טוֹבָה (be./sei.Vah / to.Vah) literally renders “in old age good,” describing a full lifespan, while וַיִּקָּבֵר (va/i.yi.ka.Ver) means “and he was buried.”
The thread — The phrase “died at a ripe old age” and family burial pattern recurs in Genesis 25:8 and Genesis 15:15, while the location Ophrah of the Abiezrites echoes Judges 6:24 where Gideon first erected an altar to the LORD.
Why it lands — The verse functions as a narrative hinge, recording a leader’s natural death to immediately foreground the people’s swift apostasy in Judges 8:33. It asks the reader to observe that political and religious stability depends on continued covenant obedience, not on the lifespan of a single deliverer.
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 Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abi–ezrites.
Cross-references
- Genesis 25:8 And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people.
- Genesis 15:15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.
- Judges 6:24 So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
- Job 5:26 You will come to the grave in full vigor, like a sheaf of grain gathered in season.
- Job 42:17 And so Job died, old and full of years.
- Joshua 24:29 Some time later, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110.
- Judges 8:27 From all this Gideon made an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.