Judges 3:31–31, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Judges 3:31–31
Shamgar receives one line
Shamgar son of Anath kills six hundred Philistines with an ox goad and is credited with delivering Israel, but no oppression, call, location, duration, or moral portrait is supplied.
Why this sits here
The brief notice expands the range of deliverers while teaching readers not to manufacture a full heroic biography from a victory line.
How the passage moves
Shamgar is named after Ehud.
An agricultural implement becomes his weapon against a large Philistine force.
The narrator states that he too delivered Israel without further detail.
What the author is communicating
A needed correction
Reading Judges 3:31–31 inside Judges' complete descent-and-deliverance movement rules out these uses:
The verse does not provide enough evidence to call Shamgar morally flawless.
The improvised weapon does not authorize lone vigilantism.
The total does not establish a precise archaeological event.
What remains true
Significant service may come through unexpected people and available tools, while sparse evidence demands modest claims.
How this should shape us
How should this shape us today?
Honor real contributions without embellishing a person into a legend or copying violent means outside their narrative setting.
Teach it back
Explain Judges 3:31–31 in your own words. Include its scene movement, one source-supported detail, one material uncertainty, and one conclusion or imitation the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Scene 1
Shamgar is named after Ehud.
Scene 2
An agricultural implement becomes his weapon against a large Philistine force.
Scene 3
The narrator states that he too delivered Israel without further detail.
Original-language wording and grammarTechnical detail appears only where it helps
ox goad
A long implement used to direct cattle, presented here as an improvised weapon.
How certain? probablealso
Links Shamgar to the book's deliverance sequence despite the minimal notice.
How certain? probableWhat the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Ancient setting and reconstruction limits
Ox goads were agricultural tools, and Philistine identity belongs to the Iron Age southern Levant, but the event and number lack external verification.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
KJV wording and material alternatives
KJV 'after him' orders the notice literarily but does not prove a complete sequential chronology. 'Son of Anath' may be a personal or culturally resonant designation; certainty is unavailable.
How certain? probableEarlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Judges within Israel's Scriptures
Judges repeatedly shows ordinary objects used in conflict. The motif supports unexpected agency, not a doctrine that improvised weapons or lone violence are sacred.
How certain? strongHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Responsible canonical connections
Judges repeatedly shows ordinary objects used in conflict. The motif supports unexpected agency, not a doctrine that improvised weapons or lone violence are sacred.
How certain? probableTextual variantsManuscript differences only when they affect meaning
Textual and grammatical care
Shamgar's placement and links to 5:6 have generated source and chronology proposals. The selected text preserves the one-verse form without importing a missing story.
How certain? probableWhere careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Shamgar's ethnic identity, historical placement, name, and relationship to the Song of Deborah are uncertain. His delivered-Israel role is explicit.
How certain? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
A minimally described outsider-looking figure can still be named as Israel's deliverer, while almost every biographical and chronological question remains open.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
This movement contributes to Judges' pattern of covenant breach, compassion, compromised deliverance, and accelerating social disorder: Shamgar son of Anath kills six hundred Philistines with an ox goad and is credited with delivering Israel, but no oppression, call, location, duration, or moral portrait is supplied.
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
The verse does not provide enough evidence to call Shamgar morally flawless.
A vivid act or divine-agency statement can be detached from the full scene and treated as approval.
A minimally described outsider-looking figure can still be named as Israel's deliverer, while almost every biographical and chronological question remains open.
Significant service may come through unexpected people and available tools, while sparse evidence demands modest claims.
Shamgar son of Anath kills six hundred Philistines with an ox goad and is credited with delivering Israel, but no oppression, call, location, duration, or moral portrait is supplied.
The improvised weapon does not authorize lone vigilantism.
Readers may preserve a leader's honor by shifting cost onto a woman, child, outsider, disabled person, or other vulnerable participant.
A minimally described outsider-looking figure can still be named as Israel's deliverer, while almost every biographical and chronological question remains open.
Significant service may come through unexpected people and available tools, while sparse evidence demands modest claims.
Shamgar son of Anath kills six hundred Philistines with an ox goad and is credited with delivering Israel, but no oppression, call, location, duration, or moral portrait is supplied.
The total does not establish a precise archaeological event.
Ancient people, land, warfare, and kingship language can be forced into a modern map the text does not supply.
A minimally described outsider-looking figure can still be named as Israel's deliverer, while almost every biographical and chronological question remains open.
Significant service may come through unexpected people and available tools, while sparse evidence demands modest claims.
Shamgar son of Anath kills six hundred Philistines with an ox goad and is credited with delivering Israel, but no oppression, call, location, duration, or moral portrait is supplied.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Judges 3:31–31, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clause relationships, repeated terms, wordplays, and translation control.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Judg.xml, 3:31–31
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, poetic, geographical, social, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Judges PDF, printed pp. 455-457, translation and notes on 3:31–31
Supports: Recent whole-book literary organization, differentiated judge portraits, progressive decline, Abimelech, Samson, and the double epilogue within the limits of preview access.
Assis, Before There Were Kings, inspected contents and exposed summaries for the relevant literary section, printed pp. 76-95
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
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 3:31–31, 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, 3:31–31
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. 455-457, translation and notes on 3:31–31
Open source ↗modern scholarly monograph preview
Before There Were Kings: A Literary Analysis of the Book of Judges
Elie Assis
Penn State University Press / Eisenbrauns, 2024
Supports: Recent whole-book literary organization, differentiated judge portraits, progressive decline, Abimelech, Samson, and the double epilogue within the limits of preview access.
Exact location: Assis, Before There Were Kings, inspected contents and exposed summaries for the relevant literary section, printed pp. 76-95
Open source ↗