Judges 6:3

Judges 6:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;
• New International Version (NIV)Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.
• New King James Version (NKJV)So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.

Context of Judges 6:3

1The Israelites did things that the Lord saw were evil. So the Lord put them under the power of the Midianites for seven years. 2They used their power to be cruel to the Israelites. The Israelites built huts in the hills to live in. They hid themselves in caves and other safe places. When they planted seeds to grow food, their enemies would attack them. The Midianites, Amalekites and people from the east would come to rob them. 4They made their camps on Israel's land. They took all their crops, as far south as Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat. They took away their sheep, cows and donkeys. 5The groups of enemies came with their animals. They put up their tents all across the land. They came like a cloud of locusts. They were too many to count as they arrived on their camels. They took everything that grew on the land.

Judges 6:3 word by word

וְהָיָ֖ה אִם־זָרַ֣ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְעָלָ֨ה מִדְיָ֧ן וַֽעֲמָלֵ֛ק וּבְנֵי־קֶ֖דֶם וְעָל֥וּ עָלָֽיו׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• it was, when Israelיִשְׂרָאֵלyiώrâ'êl · IsraelH3478
• had sownזָרַעzâra‛ · to sowH2232
• that the Midianitesמִדְיָןmidyân · MidianH4080
• came upעָלָה‛âlâh · to ascend: riseH5927
• and the Amalekitesעֲמָלֵק‛ămâlêq · AmalekH6002
• and the childrenבֵּןbên · son: descendant/peopleH1121
• of the eastקֶ֫דֶםqedem qêdmâh · EastH6924

Cross-references for Judges 6:3

• Leviticus 26:16So God will send diseases to the people. They will be afraid. The people will have diseases in their eyes. They will get thin and they will die. They will plant their seed and their enemies will eat the fruit.
• Deuteronomy 28:30A woman will promise to marry you. But another man will take her and have sex with her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a garden, but you will never eat the fruit that grows in it.
• Job 31:8If am really guilty of these things, someone else should eat the crops that I have planted. They should destroy all the crops in my fields.
• Isaiah 65:21My people will build houses and they will live in them. They will plant vineyards and they will eat the fruit from them.
• Micah 6:15You will plant seeds, but you will not bring in the harvest. You will crush olives, but you will not use the olive oil for yourselves. You will crush grapes, but you will not drink the wine from them.
• Judges 3:13King Eglon made an agreement with the Ammonites and the Amalekites to join together to attack Israel. They attacked Jericho, ‘The City of Palm Trees’, and they took it for themselves.
• Judges 6:33At that time, the Midianites, Amalekites and people of the east made an agreement to fight together. They crossed the Jordan River and they made their camp in the Jezreel valley.
• Judges 7:12The valley was full of Midianites, Amalekites and all the people from the east. They covered the ground like locusts. There were too many men to count. Their camels also were more than the sand on the shore of the sea.
• Judges 8:10Zebah and Zalmunna had 15,000 men with them in Karkor. They were the only men left of their great army from the east. 120,000 of their soldiers had died in the battle.
• Genesis 29:1Jacob continued on his journey. He came to the land where the people from the east live.
• 1 Kings 4:30Solomon was wiser than all the wise men in the East and all the wise men in Egypt.
• Job 1:3He had 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels. He had 500 pairs of oxen and 500 donkeys. He also had many servants. He was the richest person in the east part of the world.

Commentaries on Judges 6:3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Children of the East - Probably those who inhabited Arabia Deserta, Ishmaelites.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-6After forty years of peace, religious blending caused political instability, and roaming nomads forced the Israelites to live as fugitives. The Midianites, once thought to be purely nomadic and based in northwest Arabia, are now known to have built cities and, for a time, controlled much of the Arabian Peninsula and southern Transjordan (the area east of the Jordan). They are joined by the Amalekites (who were earlier part of a Moabite coalition; see…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-61. and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian--Untaught by their former experiences, the Israelites again apostatized, and new sins were followed by fresh judgments. Midian had sustained a severe blow in the time of Moses (Nu 31:1-18); and the memory of that disaster, no doubt, inflamed their resentment against the Israelites. They were wandering herdsmen, called "children of the East," from their occupying the territory east of the Red Sea…Read the comment

In the dictionaries

• Israel
• Israel, Israelites
• Jacob, Israel
• Children of the East
• Abraham
• Amalekite
• Den
• East, Children of the
• Gideon
• God

Commentaries on Judges 6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• Darby Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings