So the LORD saved Israel that day, and the battle moved on beyond Beth-aven.
Parallel translations
- WEB So Yahweh saved Israel that day; and the battle passed over by Beth Aven.
- KJV So the LORD saved Israel that day: and the battle passed over unto Bethaven.
- NKJV So the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle shifted to Beth Aven.
- NASB So the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle spread beyond Beth-aven.
- NLT So the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle continued to rage even beyond Beth-aven.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The narrator credits the victory plainly to the Lord: 'Yahweh saved Israel that day.'
Overview
This summary statement makes the theology of the chapter explicit, the deliverance is God's work, not Saul's or even Jonathan's alone. The salvation accomplished by faith through few becomes a national rescue. It points forward to the greater salvation God works through Christ, where deliverance is entirely the Lord's doing, received by faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Exod 14:30That day the LORD saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore.
- 1 Sam 13:5Now the Philistines assembled to fight against Israel with three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.
- Ps 44:6–8For I do not trust in my bow, nor does my sword save me.
- Hos 1:7Yet I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and I will save them—not by bow or sword or war, not by horses and cavalry, but by the LORD their God.”
- 2 Kgs 14:27and since the LORD had said that He would not blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash.
- Judg 2:18Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, He was with that judge and saved them from the hands of their enemies while the judge was still alive; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning under those who oppressed them and afflicted them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 14:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.