They have crossed at the ford: “We will spend the night at Geba.” Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees.
Parallel translations
- WEB They have gone over the pass. They have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah trembles. Gibeah of Saul has fled.
- KJV They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
- NKJV They have gone along the ridge, They have taken up lodging at Geba. Ramah is afraid, Gibeah of Saul has fled.
- NASB They have gone through the pass, saying, “Geba will be our encampment for the night.” Ramah is terrified, and Gibeah of Saul has fled.
- NLT They are crossing the pass and are camping at Geba. Fear strikes the town of Ramah. All the people of Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, are running for their lives.
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 advancing army crosses the pass and terror spreads through the towns near Jerusalem. Fear ripples ahead of the invader.
Overview
As the host moves past Geba and Ramah, towns like Gibeah of Saul flee in panic. The mounting dread underscores how helpless human strongholds are before such force. The scene sets the stage for the contrast with God, who alone can halt the advance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 1 Sam 13:23And a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the pass at Michmash.
- 1 Sam 7:17Then he would return to Ramah because his home was there, and there he judged Israel and built an altar to the LORD.
- Josh 21:17And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave them Gibeon, Geba,
- 1 Sam 11:4When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and relayed these words in the hearing of the people, they all wept aloud.
- Jer 31:15This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
- Hos 5:8Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah; raise the battle cry in Beth-aven: Lead on, O Benjamin!
- 1 Sam 13:16Now Saul and Jonathan his son and the troops with them were staying in Geba of Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Michmash.
- Hos 9:9They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their guilt; He will punish their sins.
- 1 Sam 14:4Now there were cliffs on both sides of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost. One was named Bozez and the other Seneh.
- 1 Kgs 15:23Now the rest of the acts of Asa, along with all his might, all his accomplishments, and the cities he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? In his old age, however, he became diseased in his feet.
- Josh 18:24–25Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba—twelve cities, along with their villages.
- 1 Sam 13:2He chose for himself three thousand men of Israel: Two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. And the rest of the troops he sent away, each to his own home.
- Hos 10:9Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel, and there you have remained. Did not the battle in Gibeah overtake the sons of iniquity?
- 1 Sam 15:34Then Samuel went to Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.
- Judg 19:12–15But his master replied, “We will not turn aside to the city of foreigners, where there are no Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.”
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 10:29 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
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