There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them, the princes of Judah in their company, the princes of Zebulun and of Naphtali.
Parallel translations
- WEB There is little Benjamin, their ruler, the princes of Judah, their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
- KJV There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
- NKJV There is little Benjamin, their leader, The princes of Judah and their company, The princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naphtali.
- NASB Benjamin, the youngest, is there, ruling them, The leaders of Judah in their company, The leaders of Zebulun, the leaders of Naphtali.
- NLT Look, the little tribe of Benjamin leads the way. Then comes a great throng of rulers from Judah and all the rulers of Zebulun and Naphtali.
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
Tribes from north and south, small Benjamin alongside Judah, Zebulun, and Naphtali, are pictured united in worship. It shows God uniting his diverse people around himself.
Overview
David names representative tribes spanning the nation, including little Benjamin and the northern tribes, gathered together before God. The image stresses the unity of God's people across former divisions. This foreshadows the gospel's gathering of a united people from every background into one body in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Sam 9:21Saul replied, “Am I not a Benjamite from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of Benjamin? So why would you say such a thing to me?”
- Ps 60:7Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim is My helmet, Judah is My scepter.
- 1 Chr 12:16Other Benjamites and some men from Judah also came to David in his stronghold.
- Isa 11:13Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart, and the adversaries of Judah will be cut off. Ephraim will no longer envy Judah, nor will Judah harass Ephraim.
- 1 Chr 27:12The ninth, for the ninth month, was Abiezer the Anathothite, a Benjamite. There were 24,000 men in his division.
- Judg 21:6–25And the Israelites grieved for their brothers, the Benjamites, and said, “Today a tribe is cut off from Israel.
- 1 Chr 12:29From Benjamin, the kinsmen of Saul: 3,000, most of whom had remained loyal to the house of Saul up to that time.
- Judg 5:18Zebulun was a people who risked their lives; Naphtali, too, on the heights of the battlefield.
- Ps 47:9The nobles of the nations have assembled as the people of the God of Abraham; for the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted.
- Gen 42:32We are twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’
- Judg 20:35The LORD defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords.
- Ezek 37:19–27you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will put them together with the stick of Judah. I will make them into a single stick, and they will become one in My hand.’
- 1 Chr 15:3And David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD to the place he had prepared for it.
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 Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 68:27 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.