Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God to determine whether we will have a successful journey.”
Parallel translations
- WEB They said to him, “Please ask counsel of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.”
- KJV And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.
- NKJV So they said to him, “Please inquire of God, that we may know whether the journey on which we go will be prosperous.”
- NASB Then they said to him, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be successful.”
- NLT Then they said, “Ask God whether or not our journey will be successful.”
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 Danites ask the priest to inquire of God whether their journey will succeed. They seek divine approval through an illegitimate shrine.
Overview
The spies want a religious sanction for their venture, but they seek it from an unauthorized priest serving before forbidden images. Their request shows a desire for God's blessing divorced from God's appointed means and obedience. The episode portrays a people who want assurance from God while ignoring His clear commands about how He is to be worshiped.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Kgs 22:5But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire first for the word of the LORD.”
- Acts 8:10and all the people, from the least to the greatest, heeded his words and said, “This man is the divine power called the Great Power.”
- Isa 30:1“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.
- Hos 4:12My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.
- Judg 17:5Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained one of his sons as his priest.
- Judg 18:14Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image, and a molten idol? Now think about what you should do.”
- Ezek 21:21For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the liver.
- 2 Kgs 16:15Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, as well as the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land. Sprinkle on the altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to seek guidance.”
- Judg 17:13Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”
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Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 18:5 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.