They chose new gods; Then there was war in the gates; Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.
Parallel translations
- WEB They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
- KJV They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
- BSB When they chose new gods, then war came to their gates. Not a shield or spear was found among forty thousand in Israel.
- NASB “New gods were chosen; Then war was in the gates. Not a shield or a spear was seen Among forty thousand in Israel.
- NLT When Israel chose new gods, war erupted at the city gates. Yet not a shield or spear could be seen among forty thousand warriors in Israel!
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
Israel's choice of new gods brought war, leaving them defenseless.
Overview
The song traces the oppression back to idolatry, the root of Israel's troubles. Their spiritual unfaithfulness left them without shield or spear against the enemy. The verse underscores that turning from Yahweh always leaves His people exposed, while He alone is their true defense.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Deut 32:16–17They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations.
- Judg 2:17Yet they didn’t listen to their judges; for they prostituted themselves to other gods, and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, obeying Yahweh’s commandments. They didn’t do so.
- Judg 2:12They abandoned Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; and they provoked Yahweh to anger.
- 1 Sam 13:19–22Now there was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears”;
- Judg 4:3The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 5:8 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.