Judges 3:31

And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
after	וְאַחֲרָ֤יו ve.'a.cha.Rav	H310	properly · conjunction + cardinal number, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Shamgar	שַׁמְגַּ֣ר sham.Gar	H8044	Shamgar · proper noun, a man's name
son	בֶּן ben-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Anath	עֲנָ֔ת 'a.Nat	H6067	Anath · proper noun, a man's name
slew	וַיַּ֤ךְ vai.Yakh	H5221	to strike (lightly or severely · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Philistines	פְּלִשְׁתִּים֙ pe.lish.Tim	H6430	a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
six	שֵֽׁשׁ shesh-	H8337	six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the h… · noun, common both genders singular absolute
hundred	מֵא֣וֹת me.'ot	H3967	a hundred · noun, common feminine plural absolute
men	אִ֔ישׁ 'Ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
ox	הַבָּקָ֑ר ha.ba.Kar	H1241	beef cattle or an animal of the ox family of either gen… · definite article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
goad	בְּמַלְמַ֖ד be.mal.Mad	H4451	a goad for oxen · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
delivered	וַיֹּ֥שַׁע vai.Yo.sha'	H3467	properly · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵֽל Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name

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 5:6 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.
1 Samuel 17:47 And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our…
1 Samuel 17:50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the…
1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effec…
Judges 2:16 Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
Judges 5:8 They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
Judges 15:15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
1 Samuel 13:19-22 Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears:

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 3:31–end

When it is said the land had rest eighty years, some think it meant chiefly of that part of the land which lay eastward on the banks of Jordan, which had been oppressed by the Moabites; but it seems, by this passage here, that the other side of the country which lay south-west was in that time infested by the Philistines, against whom Shamgar made head. 1. It seems Israel needed deliverance, for he delivered Israel; how great the distress was Deborah afterwards related in her song (Jdg 5:6), that in the days of Shamgar the highways were unoccupied, etc.; that part of the country which lay next to the Philistines was so infested with plunderers that people could not travel the roads in safety…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Judges 3:31

after him was Shamgar--No notice is given of the tribe or family of this judge; and from the Philistines being the enemy that roused him into public service, the suffering seems to have been local--confined to some of the western tribes. slew . . . six hundred men with an oxgoad--This instrument is eight feet long and about six inches in circumference. It is armed at the lesser end with a sharp prong for driving the cattle, and on the other with a small iron paddle for removing the clay which encumbers the plough in working. Such an instrument, wielded by a strong arm, would do no mean execution. We may suppose, however, for the notice is very fragmentary, that Shamgar was only the leader…

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John Gill on Judges 3:31

And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath,.... That is, after the death of Ehud, when the people of Israel were in distress again from another quarter, this man was raised up of God to be a judge and deliverer of them; but who he was, and who his father, and of what tribe, we nowhere else read: which slew of the Philistines six hundred men; who invaded the land, and came in an hostile manner into it; or rather, as it seems from Judges 5:6; they entered as a banditti of thieves and robbers, who posted themselves in the highways, and robbed travellers as they passed, so that they were obliged to leave off travelling, or go through bypaths, and not in the public road; and this man, who seems…

The Church Fathers

After him arose Shamgar, son of Anat, who defeated the foreigners, who were six hundred men, besides the calves of the cows, and saved Israel. We can ask how after Ehud this man fought for Israel and is said to have saved Israel, since the Israelites had not been taken captive again or had not been subjected to the yoke of slavery. But we can understand what is said: he saved, not because the enemy had caused any damage, but that he acted so that he was not allowed to do so. We can think that the enemy began to try to make war, but this Judge prevented him, defeating him. On the other hand, the meaning of the phrase is obscure: besides the calves of the cows. Did he make a killing of cows in the battle and that's why he is said to have killed six hundred men, in addition to what he did with the cows he killed? And why calves? Is it normal in the Greek language to call calves also those who are already big? It is said that in Egypt it is said so vulgarly, just as among us chickens of any age are called chickens. The translation done on the Hebrew does not have this phrase: besides the calves of the cows, that is based on the Seventy. The translation made on the Hebrew says: Six hundred men killed with the plowshare, phrase that the Seventy do not have.
— Augustine of Hippo, QUESTIONS ON JUDGES, Q. 25 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Agriculture — Tilling the ground (Gen. 2:15; 4:2, 3, 12) and rearing cattle were the chief employments in ancient times. The Egyptians excelled in agriculture. And after the Israelites entered into the possession…
Anath — An answer; i.e., to “prayer”, the father of Shamgar, who was one of the judges of Israel (Judg. 3:31).
Cattle — Abounded in the Holy Land. To the rearing and management of them the inhabitants chiefly devoted themselves (Deut. 8:13; 12:21; 1 Sam. 11:5; 12:3; Ps. 144:14; Jer. 3:24). They may be classified as,…
Goad — (Heb. malmad, only in Judg. 3: 31), an instrument used by ploughmen for guiding their oxen. Shamgar slew six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad. “The goad is a formidable weapon. It is sometimes ten…
Ox goad — Mentioned only in Judg. 3:31, the weapon with which Shamgar (q.v.) slew six hundred Philistines. “The ploughman still carries his goad, a weapon apparently more fitted for the hand of the soldier…
Philistines — (Gen. 10:14, R.V.; but in A.V., “Philistim”), a tribe allied to the Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which spread over the whole district of the Lebanon and the valley of the…
Shamgar — The Philistines from the maritime plain had made incursions into the Hebrew upland for the purposes of plunder, when one of this name, the son of Anath, otherwise unknown, headed a rising for the…
Anath · Father of Shamgar — Father of Shamgar
Goad · 600 Men killed with, by Shamgar, a — 600 Men killed with, by Shamgar, a
Judge · 3. Shamgar — 3. Shamgar
Judges, Extraordinary · Names of: Shamgar — Names of: Shamgar

Judges 3:31

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 3:31–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Judges 3:31

John Gill on Judges 3:31

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Judges 3:31

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 3:31–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Judges 3:31

John Gill on Judges 3:31

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 3:31–end

Rashi on Judges 3:31