Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Judges 1:22 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 22. 22And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el: and the LORD was with them.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse opens the house of Joseph's Bethel campaign with the LORD's presence.
Read It With
- Judges 1:22–26
Read Judges 1:22–26 together. This verse opens the house of Joseph's Bethel campaign with the LORD's presence. The house of Joseph's reconnaissance, promise of mercy, capture of Bethel, release of one household, and construction of another Luz make one complete city episode; verse 27 begins a long failure list.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The compact episode complicates conquest through intelligence, negotiated survival, family mercy, and the persistence of a city's name elsewhere. Within that movement, opens the house of Joseph's Bethel campaign with the LORD's presence.
Read Judges 1:22–26 together
Why these verses belong together: The house of Joseph's reconnaissance, promise of mercy, capture of Bethel, release of one household, and construction of another Luz make one complete city episode; verse 27 begins a long failure list.
Verse 22. 22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el: and the LORD was with them.
Verse 23. 23 And the house of Joseph sent to descry Beth-el. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)
Verse 24. 24 And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy.
Verse 25. 25 And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family.
Verse 26. 26 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.
What Remains True
Opens the house of Joseph's Bethel campaign with the LORD's presence. Promises made to vulnerable people during conflict require faithful protection, while selective mercy does not erase wider harm.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because Judges 1:22 opens the house of Joseph's Bethel campaign with the LORD's presence, honor protection commitments and account for people whose safety, consent, and loss a success report might omit.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Judges 1:22–26 — Joseph takes Bethel through an informantSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Judges 1:22–26, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Judges
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clause relationships, repeated terms, wordplays, and translation control.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Judg.xml, 1:22–26
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Judges with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, poetic, geographical, social, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Judges PDF, printed pp. 452-453, translation and notes on 1:22–26
Open source ↗