Bible Strands
Judges 9:32
Now then, tonight you and the people with you are to come and lie in wait in the fields.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A covert messenger delivers a nighttime command to Abimelech, directing him and his accompanying troops to position themselves in the fields before dawn.
The words — וְ/אֱרֹ֖ב (ve./'e.Ro) means "and lie in wait," denoting the tactical concealment, while לַ֔יְלָה (Lay.lah) fixes the operation to the specific hour of darkness.
The thread — The directive to ambush connects to Proverbs 1:11 and Proverbs 4:16, which describe concealed violence and the restless pursuit of harm, and is echoed in Romans 3:15 regarding feet swift to shed blood.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of how strategic concealment and precise timing enable sudden violence, requiring the reader to observe the mechanics of ambush without moralizing the act.
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
Now therefore up by night, thou and the people that is with thee, and lie in wait in the field:
Cross-references
- Proverbs 1:11 If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,
- Proverbs 4:16 For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.
- Romans 3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
- Job 24:14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy; in the night he is like a thief.
- Psalms 36:4 Even on his bed he plots wickedness; he sets himself on a path that is not good; he fails to reject evil.