Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Judges 3:31 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 31. 31And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse compresses Shamgar's ox-goad victory over six hundred Philistines into one deliverance notice.
Read It With
- Judges 3:30–31
Read Judges 3:31–31 together. This verse compresses Shamgar's ox-goad victory over six hundred Philistines into one deliverance notice. The single verse names Shamgar, his weapon, the Philistine total, and his deliverance; 4:1 begins a new major cycle after Ehud's death.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The brief notice expands the range of deliverers while teaching readers not to manufacture a full heroic biography from a victory line. Within that movement, compresses Shamgar's ox-goad victory over six hundred Philistines into one deliverance notice.
Read Judges 3:31–31 together
Why these verses belong together: The single verse names Shamgar, his weapon, the Philistine total, and his deliverance; 4:1 begins a new major cycle after Ehud's death.
Verse 31. 31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.
Follow the Context
- 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.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred…”
In plain language: compresses Shamgar's ox-goad victory over six hundred Philistines into one deliverance notice
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. Within that movement, this wording compresses Shamgar's ox-goad victory over six hundred Philistines into one deliverance notice.
Why it matters: This wording carries a material narrative, textual, historical, violence, vulnerable-person, land, leadership, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Judges 3:31 does not stand alone from 3:30–31. The verse does not provide enough evidence to call Shamgar morally flawless. Its verse-specific role is: compresses Shamgar's ox-goad victory over six hundred Philistines into one deliverance notice.
What Remains True
Compresses Shamgar's ox-goad victory over six hundred Philistines into one deliverance notice. Significant service may come through unexpected people and available tools, while sparse evidence demands modest claims.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because Judges 3:31 compresses Shamgar's ox-goad victory over six hundred Philistines into one deliverance notice, 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's precise role in Judges 3:31–31. Include the scene's ancient covenant setting, one material uncertainty, the affected people, and one conclusion or violent imitation the context does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Judges 3:31–31 — Shamgar receives one lineSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Shamgar's ethnic identity, historical placement, name, and relationship to the Song of Deborah are uncertain. His delivered-Israel role is explicit.
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.
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 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 ↗