7
When the Israelites along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and ran away. So the Philistines came and occupied their cities.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’an·šê- yiś·rā·’êl ’ă·šer- bə·‘ê·ḇer hā·‘ê·meq wa·’ă·šer bə·‘ê·ḇer hay·yar·dên way·yir·’ū kî- ’an·šê yiś·rā·’êl nā·sū wə·ḵî- šā·’ūl ū·ḇā·nāw mê·ṯū way·ya·‘az·ḇū ’eṯ- he·‘ā·rîm way·yā·nu·sū p̄ə·liš·tîm way·yā·ḇō·’ū way·yê·šə·ḇū bā·hen
Word by word25 · parsed
√ ʼĕnôwsh — a man in general (singly or collectively)Nounmasculine plural construct
ʼĕnôwsh — man, men (construct plural) ʼanšê-Yisrāʼêl, “the men of Israel.” Pulpit insists the phrase shifts sense between verses: “The term is here applied to non-combatants, while in ver. 1 it meant those following Saul in arms.” The same two words in v. 7b (index 10) do mean the routed army — one phrase carrying both the soldiers who ran and the civilians who ran after them.
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
√ ʻêber — properly, a region acrossPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct
ʻêber — region across, side The unit's hinge word, used twice (here and index 6) with no article of direction. K&D: ʻêber “is used here to signify the side opposite to the place of conflict,” the writer's own standpoint being the valley. Every commentator in the brief wrestles with it and they do not agree — Ellicott, Cambridge and Pulpit read east of Jordan; Poole, Gill and K&D read this side. The Hebrew permits both.
√ ʻêmeq — a vale (iArticleNounmasculine singular
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatConjunctive wawPronounrelative
√ ʻêber — properly, a region acrossPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct
√ Yardên — Jarden, the principal river of PalestineArticleNounproperfeminine singular
√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
râʼâh — to see Consecutive imperfect, third plural: the narrative's pivot from battlefield to country. What is “seen” is a compound fact — the army fled, and the king and his sons are dead. Gill treats it as report rather than sight.
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
Conjunction kî, “that” — introducing the first of the two reported facts.
√ ʼĕnôwsh — a man in general (singly or collectively)Nounmasculine plural construct
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
√ nûwç — to flit, iVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
nûwç — to flee, flit Qal perfect: the flight is already accomplished when they hear of it. The same root returns four words later (index 20) as a consecutive imperfect for the civilians — the army's flight propagates outward into the towns, one verb doing both.
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
√ Shâʼûwl — Shaul, the name of an Edomite and two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
mûwth — to die Qal perfect, third common plural: “they died.” The text says only this. Henry builds his whole note on the reticence: “The Scripture makes no mention what became of the souls of Saul and his sons … secret things belong not to us.” The narrator reports the bodies and will not report the verdict.
√ ʻâzab — to loosen, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
ʻâzab — to loosen, forsake The covenant verb of abandonment, here with cities as its object. JFB explains the calculation without moralizing: “had they waited the arrival of the victors, they must, according to the war usages of the time, have been deprived either of their liberty or their lives.”
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
Direct object marker ʼêth — marking “the cities” as definite.
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)ArticleNounfeminine plural
ʻîyr — a city, a guarded place Strong's glosses the noun as “a place guarded by waking or a watch.” The irony is lexical: the watch-places are emptied by their own watchmen. These are the towns Israel had held since Joshua; K&D reckons the loss as “the whole land with the exception of Peraea and the tribe-land of Judah.”
√ nûwç — to flit, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
√ Pᵉlishtîy — a Pelishtite or inhabitant of PeleshethNounpropermasculine plural
√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
yâshab — to sit down, dwell The verb of settled habitation, not of conquest. The chapter that began with Israel fleeing before the Philistines ends its first movement with the Philistines living in Israelite houses — the exact reversal of Judges' unfinished conquest, into which Beth-shan (v. 10) has always been the standing exception.
בָּהֶֽן׃סbā·hen[their cities]
Prepositionthird person feminine plural