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.
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.
- BSB There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them, the princes of Judah in their company, the princes of Zebulun and 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.
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 answered, “Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? And my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak to me like this?”
- Ps 60:7Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is the defense of my head. Judah is my scepter.
- 1 Chr 12:16Some of the children of Benjamin and Judah came to the stronghold to David.
- Isa 11:13The envy also of Ephraim will depart, and those who persecute Judah will be cut off. Ephraim won’t envy Judah, and Judah won’t persecute Ephraim.
- 1 Chr 27:12The ninth captain for the ninth month was Abiezer the Anathothite, of the Benjamites: and in his division were twenty-four thousand.
- Judg 21:6–25The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “There is one tribe cut off from Israel today.
- 1 Chr 12:29Of the children of Benjamin, Saul’s relatives, three thousand: for until then, the greatest part of them had kept their allegiance to Saul’s house.
- Judg 5:18Zebulun was a people that jeopardized their lives to the death; Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.
- Ps 47:9The princes of the peoples are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God. He is greatly exalted!
- Gen 42:32We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan.’
- Judg 20:35Yahweh struck Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men. All these drew the sword.
- Ezek 37:19–27tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand.
- 1 Chr 15:3David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up Yahweh’s ark to its place, which he had prepared for it.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.