Verse Lens · Context pointer
Judges 18:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
This verse places children, livestock, and goods ahead of the armed rear guard.
Read It With
- Judges 18:21–26
Read Judges 18:21–26 together. This verse places children, livestock, and goods ahead of the armed rear guard. Dan's protective march order, Micah's mobilization and pursuit, shouted exchange, his theft complaint, Dan's threat of angry men, recognition of weakness, return, and continued march form one confrontation; verse 27 begins Laish's destruction.
Why It Needs Context
This verse places children, livestock, and goods ahead of the armed rear guard. It needs Judges 18:21–26 because The dialogue displays the absurdity of gods that can be stolen and the seriousness of coercion that makes superior force substitute for ownership or justice.
Read Judges 18:21–26 together
Why these verses belong together: Dan's protective march order, Micah's mobilization and pursuit, shouted exchange, his theft complaint, Dan's threat of angry men, recognition of weakness, return, and continued march form one confrontation; verse 27 begins Laish's destruction.
Verse 21. 21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them.
Verse 22. 22 And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah’s house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.
Verse 23. 23 And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?
Verse 24. 24 And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?
Verse 25. 25 And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household.
Verse 26. 26 And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Judges 18:21–26 — Armed threat leaves Micah without his godsSources used for this context pointer
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 18:21–26, 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, 18:21–26
Open source ↗