Judges 18:2

And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
children	בְנֵי ve.nei-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Dan	דָ֣ן dan	H1835	Dan · proper noun, a place name
sent	וַיִּשְׁלְח֣וּ vai.yish.le.Chu	H7971	to send away · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
family	מִֽמִּשְׁפַּחְתָּ֡ם mi.mish.pach.Tam	H4940	a family · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
five	חֲמִשָּׁ֣ה cha.mi.Shah	H2568	five · noun, common both genders singular absolute
men	אֲנָשִׁ֣ים 'a.na.Shim	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
coasts	מִקְצוֹתָם֩ mik.tzo.Tam	H7098	a termination · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
men	בְּנֵי be.nei-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
valour	חַ֜יִל Cha.yil	H2428	probably a force · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Zorah	מִצָּרְעָ֣ה mi.tza.re.'Ah	H6881	Tsorah · preposition + proper noun, a place name
Eshtaol	וּמֵֽאֶשְׁתָּאֹ֗ל u.me.'esh.ta.'Ol	H847	Eshtaol · conjunction + preposition + proper noun, a place name
spy	לְרַגֵּ֤ל le.ra.Gel	H7270	to walk along · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct
land	הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ ha.'A.retz	H776	the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
search	וּלְחָקְרָ֔הּ u.le.cha.ke.Rah	H2713	properly · conjunction + preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
said	וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ vai.yo.me.Ru	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Go	יָלַךְ yâlak	H3212	to walk (literally or figuratively)
search	חִקְר֣וּ chik.Ru	H2713	properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
land	הָאָ֑רֶץ ha.'A.retz	H776	the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
came	וַיָּבֹ֤אוּ vai.ya.Vo.'u	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
mount	הַר har-	H2022	a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine singular construct
Ephraim	אֶפְרַ֙יִם֙ 'ef.Ra.yim	H669	Ephrajim · proper noun, a man's name
house	בֵּ֣ית beit	H1004	a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
Micah	מִיכָ֔ה mi.Khah	H4318	Micah · proper noun, a man's name
lodged	וַיָּלִ֖ינוּ vai.ya.Li.nu	H3885	to stop (usually over night) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Judges 13:25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Joshua 2:1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into…
Numbers 13:17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:
Judges 18:8 And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?
Judges 18:11 And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war.
Genesis 42:9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
Joshua 17:15-18 And Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the…
Joshua 19:41 And the coast of their inheritance was Zorah, and Eshtaol, and Ir-shemesh,

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 18:1-6

Here is, 1. The eye which these Danites had upon Laish, not the whole tribe of Dan, but one family of them, to whose lot, in the subdivision of Canaan, that city fell. Hitherto this family had sojourned with their brethren, who had taken possession of their lot, which lay between Judah and the Philistines, and had declined going to their own city, because there was no king in Israel to rule over them, Jdg 18:1. It lay a great way off, separate from the rest of their tribe; it was entirely in the enemy's hand, and therefore they would sponge upon their brethren rather than go far to provide for themselves. But at length necessity forced them to arouse themselves, and they began to think of an…

Read the whole note in the console

John Gill on Judges 18:2

And the children of Dan sent of their family five men,.... According to Abarbinel one out of a family, as Moses sent one out of a tribe to spy the land; and so there must be five families concerned in this affair: from their coasts, men of valour from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; these men were sent from the borders of the tribe, the extreme parts of it, as the word may signify, where perhaps they were the most pressed and overcrowded: Zorah and Eshtaol are particularly mentioned, and were the first cities in their lot, and were the coast of their inheritance; see Gill on Joshua 19:41 some take the phrase rendered "from their coasts" to signify persons of…

Read the whole note in the console

Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 18:2

To spy out and explore the land for the object mentioned, the Danites sent out five brave men "out of their (the Danites') ends," i.e., from their whole body (vid., Kg1 12:31; Kg1 13:33, and the commentary on Gen 19:4). They came up to the mountains of Ephraim, and as far as Micah's house, where they passed the night.

Rashi on Judges 18:1

As there had not fallen to their lot. A suitable inheritance for them in the conquered territory, as it is said in Yehoshua, "The boundry of Bnei Don extended from them."1Yehoshua, 19:47. See Rashi there.2When the apportioning of the land among the tribes was completed. This, too, teaches us that this episode took place at the very beginning of the period of the judges.3In addition to the evidence presented by Rashi above, 17:1.

Dictionary and topics

Dan — A judge. (1.) The fifth son of Jacob. His mother was Bilhah, Rachel’s maid (Gen. 30:6, “God hath judged me”, Heb. dananni). The blessing pronounced on him by his father was, “Dan shall judge his…
Eshtaol — Narrow pass or recess, a town (Josh. 15:33) in the low country, the She-phelah of Judah. It was allotted to the tribe of Dan (Josh. 19:41), and was one of their strongholds. Here Samson spent his…
Micah — A shortened form of Micaiah, who is like Jehovah? (1.) A man of Mount Ephraim, whose history so far is introduced in Judg. 17, apparently for the purpose of leading to an account of the settlement of…
Teraphim — Givers of prosperity, idols in human shape, large or small, analogous to the images of ancestors which were revered by the Romans. In order to deceive the guards sent by Saul to seize David, Michal…
Zorah — Place of wasps, a town in the low country of Judah, afterwards given to Dan (Josh. 19:41; Judg. 18:2), probably the same as Zoreah (Josh. 15:33). This was Samson’s birthplace (Judg. 13:2, 25), and…
Dan, The Tribe Of · A part of: Sent to seek new settlements — A part of: Sent to seek new settlements
Eshtaol · Allotted to Dan — Allotted to Dan
Jonathan · idolatry; joins the Danites — idolatry; joins the Danites
Reconnoissance · Laish — Laish

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).