Judges 8:33

Judges 8:33 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baal–berith their god.
• New International Version (NIV)No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god
• English Standard Version (ESV)As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god.
• New King James Version (NKJV)So it was, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-Berith their god.

Context of Judges 8:33

31Gideon also had a slave wife who lived in Shechem. She gave birth to a son for him. Gideon called him Abimelech. 32Joash's son Gideon died when he was very old. People buried him in the grave of his father, Joash. That was in Ophrah, on the land of Abiezer's clan. Soon after Gideon died, the Israelites stopped being faithful to the Lord. They started to worship the idols of Baal again. They chose Baal-Berith to be their new god. 34They no longer served the Lord their God. They forgot that he had saved them from all the enemies who lived around them. 35The Israelites did not remain faithful to Gideon's family either. They did not remember all the good things that he had done to help Israel.

Judges 8:33 word by word

וַיְהִ֗י כַּֽאֲשֶׁר֙ מֵ֣ת גִּדְע֔וֹן וַיָּשׁ֙וּבוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וַיִּזְנ֖וּ אַחֲרֵ֣י הַבְּעָלִ֑ים וַיָּשִׂ֧ימוּ לָהֶ֛ם בַּ֥עַל בְּרִ֖ית לֵאלֹהִֽים׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And it came to pass, as soon as Gideonגִּדְעוֹןgid‛ôn · GideonH1439
• was deadמוּתmûth · to dieH4191
• that the childrenבֵּןbên · son: descendant/peopleH1121
• of Israelיִשְׂרָאֵלyiώrâ'êl · IsraelH3478
• turned againשׁוּבshûb · to return: turn backH7725
• and went a whoringזָנָהzânâh · to fornicateH2181
• afterאַחַר'achar · afterH310
• Baalimבַּעַלba‛al · BaalH1168
• and madeשׂוּםώûm ώîym · to set: makeH7760
• Baal–berithבַּעַל בְּרִיתba‛al berîyth · Baal-berithH1170
• their godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430

Cross-references for Judges 8:33

• Judges 2:7The Israelites continued to serve the Lord while Joshua and the old men were still alive. Joshua and those men had seen the great things that the Lord had done to help Israel.
• Joshua 24:31The people of Israel continued to serve the Lord while Joshua and the old men were still alive. Joshua and those men had seen everything that the Lord had done to help Israel.
• 2 Kings 12:2Jehoiada the priest taught Joash to do what was right. So Joash pleased the Lord all through his life.
• 2 Chronicles 24:17After Jehoiada died, the important officers of Judah came to the king. They bent down low in front of him to give him honour. The king listened to their advice.
• Judges 8:27Gideon used the gold to make an image of an ephod. He put it in Ophrah, where he lived. All the Israelites came there and they worshipped the image. It caused them to turn away from the true God. It became like a trap that caught Gideon and his family.
• Judges 2:17But the people did not obey their leaders. They refused to serve the Lord faithfully. Instead, they worshipped false gods. They did not live in the way that their ancestors had lived. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord's commands, but they refused to obey him.
• Exodus 34:15Be careful not to make an agreement with the people who live in that land. They have turned away to worship their own gods. They offer sacrifices to their gods. When they do that, they may ask you to join with them. Then you will eat the food that they have offered to their gods.
• Jeremiah 3:9She was not ashamed of what she was doing. She worshipped idols made of wood and stone. She made the land unclean because she was not faithful to me.
• Judges 9:4So they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of their god, Baal-Berith. Abimelech used this money to pay some wicked men to help him.

Commentaries on Judges 8:33

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 33A whoring after Baalim - This term has probably a different meaning here from what it has Judges 8:7; for it is very likely that in most parts of the pagan worship there were many impure rites, so that going a whoring after Baalim may be taken in a literal sense. Baal-berith - Literally, the lord of the covenant; the same as Jupiter faederis, or Mercury, among the Romans; the deity whose business it was to preside over compacts, leagues, treaties…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 33Turned again - Doubtless Gideon himself had no doubt prepared the way for this apostacy by his unauthorized ephod. The Law of Moses, with its strict unity of priesthood and altar, was the divinely-appointed and only effectual preservative from idolatry. Baal-bereth - The god of covenants or sworn treaties, corresponding to the Zeus Orkius of the Greeks. The center of this fresh apostacy was at Shechem.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 29-35Verses 29-35 As soon as Gideon was dead, who kept the people to the worship of the God of Israel, they found themselves under no restraint; then they went after Baalim, and showed no kindness to the family of Gideon. No wonder if those who forget their God, forget their friends. Yet conscious of our own ingratitude to the Lord, and observing that of mankind in general, we should learn to be patient under any unkind returns we meet with for our poor…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 33-35Gideon's ephod (Judges 8:27) quickly became part of a pagan shrine honoring images of the Canaanite god Baal, here called Baal-berith ("Baal of the covenant"). This sinful act involved forgetting the Lord and his works and being disloyal to godly leadership. Remembering is essential to biblical, covenantal worship, from the time of the exodus (Exodus 12:14, 24) to the ongoing Christian celebration of the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:25). kindness: See…Read the comment

Topics related to Judges 8:33

• Baal-Berith
• Israel

In the dictionaries

• Baal
• Gideon
• God
• Israel
• Israel, Israelites
• Jacob, Israel
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Baal-Berith
• Children of Israel
• Abimelech

Commentaries on Judges 8

• 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