Hakim-hakim 18:17-18

18:17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land broke in and stole ¹  the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred fully armed men. ²  18:18 When these men broke into Micah’s house and stole ³  the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

Hakim-hakim 18:2

18:2 The Danites sent out from their whole tribe five representatives, ⁴  capable men ⁵  from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the Ephraimite hill country and spent the night at Micah’s house. ⁶ 

1 Samuel 5:1

The Ark Causes Trouble for the Philistines

5:1 Now the Philistines had captured the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

Yeremia 51:47

51:47 “So the time will certainly come ⁷ 

when I will punish the idols of Babylon.

Her whole land will be put to shame.

All her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst. ⁸ 

[18:17]  ¹ tn Heb “went up, went in there, took.”

[18:17]  ² tn Heb “six hundred men, equipped with the weapons of war.”

[18:18]  ³ tn Heb “These went into Micah’s house and took.”

[18:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “The Danites sent from their tribe five men, from their borders.”

[18:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

[18:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “They came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, and spent the night there.”

[51:47]  ⁷ tn Heb “That being so, look, days are approaching.” לָכֵן (lakhen) often introduces the effect of an action. That may be the case here, the turmoil outlined in v. 46 serving as the catalyst for the culminating divine judgment described in v. 47. Another possibility is that לָכֵן here has an asseverative force (“certainly”), as in Isa 26:14 and perhaps Jer 5:2 (see the note there). In this case the word almost has the force of “for, since,” because it presents a cause for an accompanying effect. See Judg 8:7 and the discussion of Isa 26:14 in BDB 486-87 s.v. כֵּן 3.d.

[51:47]  ⁸ tn Or “all her slain will fall in her midst.” In other words, her people will be overtaken by judgment and be unable to escape. The dead will lie in heaps in the very heart of the city and land.