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Now therefore, get up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field.
Judges 9:32 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Now therefore, go up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field.
  • KJV Now therefore up by night, thou and the people that is with thee, and lie in wait in the field:
  • BSB Now then, tonight you and the people with you are to come and lie in wait in the fields.
  • NASB So now, arise by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field.
  • NLT Come by night with an army and hide out in the fields.

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

Zebul advises Abimelech to come by night and lie in ambush in the fields.

Overview

He proposes a stealthy military strategy to surprise Gaal and Shechem. The counsel sets up the deadly trap against the rebellious city. Human scheming again becomes the instrument by which the curse moves toward fulfillment.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 5

  • Prov 4:16For they don’t sleep, unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.
  • Rom 3:15“Their feet are swift to shed blood.
  • Prov 1:11–16If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.
  • Job 24:14–17The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.
  • Ps 36:4He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Judges videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Judges 9:32YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JudgesMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 9:32 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.