Judges 17 · Verse 7

Judges 17:7

And there was a young man out of Beth–lehem–judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.

Judges 17:7, King James Version

Judges 17:7 in other translations

BSB	And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been residing within the clan of Judah.
WEB	There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he lived there.
ASV	And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there.
YLT	And there is a young man of Beth-Lehem-Judah, of the family of Judah, and he is a Levite, and he is a sojourner there.
DARBY	And there was a young man out of Bethlehem-Judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.
BBE	Now there was a young man living in Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah and a Levite, who was not a townsman of the place.
Webster	And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.

What does Judges 17:7 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

7. Beth-lehem-judah--so called in contradistinction to a town of the same name in Zebulun (Jos 19:15). of the family--that is, tribe. of Judah--Men of the tribe of Levi might connect themselves, as Aaron did (Ex 6:23), by marriage with another tribe; and this young Levite belonged to the tribe of Judah, by his mother's side, which accounts for his being in Beth-lehem, not one of the Levitical cities.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 7 Of the family of Judah - The word family may be taken here for tribe; or the young man might have been of the tribe of Judah by his mother, and of the tribe of Levi by his father, for he is called here a Levite; and it is probable that he might have officiated at Shiloh, in the Levitical office. A Levite might marry into any other tribe, providing the woman was not an heiress.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Judges 17:7-13

Micah thought it was a sign of God's favour to him and his images, that a Levite should come to his door. Thus those who please themselves with their own delusions, if Providence unexpectedly bring any thing to their hands that further them in their evil way, are apt from thence to think that God is pleased with them.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Judges 17:7 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיְהִי\־vay.hi-and he wasH1961

נַ֗עַרNa.'ara young manH5288

מִבֵּ֥יתmi.Beitfrom Beth-H1035

לֶ֙חֶם֙le.chem-lehemH1035

יְהוּדָ֔הye.hu.DahJudahH3063

מִמִּשְׁפַּ֖חַתmi.mish.Pa.chatfrom [the] tribe ofH4940

יְהוּדָ֑הye.hu.DahJudahH3063

וְה֥וּאve.Hu'and heH1931

לֵוִ֖יle.Vi[was] a LeviteH3881

וְה֥וּאve.Hu'and heH1931

גָֽר\־gar-[was] sojourningH1481

שָֽׁם\׃ShamthereH8033

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Judges 17:7

Matthew 2:1
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Micah 5:2
But thou, Beth–lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Ruth 1:1-2
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth–lehem–judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth–lehem–judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.
Matthew 2:5-6
And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
Joshua 19:15
And Kattath, and Nahallal, and Shimron, and Idalah, and Beth–lehem: twelve cities with their villages.
Judges 19:1-2
And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth–lehem–judah. And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father’s house to Beth–lehem–judah, and was there four whole months.
Genesis 35:19
And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Beth–lehem.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Beth-lehem-judah.
19:1,2; Ge 35:19; Jos 19:15; Ru 1:1,2; Mic 5:2; Mt 2:1,5,6
of the family.That is, of the tribe of Judah by his mother; and of that of Levi by his father.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Judges 17:6
In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Judges 17:7
And there was a young man out of Beth–lehem–judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.
Judges 17:8
And the man departed out of the city from Beth–lehem–judah to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.

Read all of Judges 17

Judges 17:7 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y había un joven de Beth-lehem de Judá, de la tribu de Judá, el cual era Levita; y peregrinaba allí.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et il y avait un jeune homme de Bethléhem de Juda, ville de la famille de Juda, et il était Lévite, et il séjournait là.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und es war ein Jüngling aus Bethlehem-Juda vom Geschlecht Juda; der war ein Levit und hielt sich daselbst auf.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Fuit quoque alter adolescens de Bethlehem Juda, ex cognatione ejus: eratque ipse Levites, et habitabat ibi.