Judges 6:23

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Yahweh said to him, Peace be to you; don't be afraid: you shall not die.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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שָׁל֥וֹם

shâlôwm

H7965

“peace”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 236× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 15:15

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7999

TWOT: 2401a

completeness, soundness, welfare, peace - completeness (in number) - safety, soundness (in body) - welfare, health, prosperity - peace, quiet, tranquillity, contentment - peace, friendship - of human relationships - with God especially in covenant relationship - peace (from war) - peace (as adjective)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

9: words
7: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
2 nouns
2 prepositions
2 particles

Verb forms

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר Qal · Sequential Imperfect
תִּירָ֑א Qal · Jussive
תָּמֽוּת Qal · Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 16 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 9 Hebrew tokens and 11 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Judges 6:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Daniel 10:19 He said, "Greatly beloved man, don't be afraid: peace be to you, be strong, yes, be strong." When he spoke to me, I was strengthened, and said, "Let my lord speak; for you have strengthened me."
Genesis 43:23 He said, "Peace be to you. Don't be afraid. Your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money." He brought Simeon out to them.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Don't let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
John 20:26 After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace be to you."
Genesis 32:30 Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, he said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."
Psalms 85:8 I will hear what God, Yahweh, will speak, For he will speak peace to his people, his saints; But let them not turn again to folly.
John 20:19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be to you."
Romans 1:7 to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Judges 6:23 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר ל֧וֹ יְהוָ֛ה שָׁל֥וֹם לְךָ֖ אַל תִּירָ֑א לֹ֖א תָּמֽוּת

Yahweh said to him, Peace be to you; don't be afraid: you shall not die.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Judges 6:23 Septuagint · lemma form

καί εἶπον αὐτός κύριος εἰρήνη σύ μή φοβέω οὐ μή ἀποθνήσκω

And the Lord said to him, Peace be to you, fear not, you shall not die.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וַאֲמַר לֵיהּ יְיָ שְׁלַם לָךְ לָא תִדְחַל לָא תְמוּת:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Judges 6:23 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Jdg 6:23 And the LORD said unto him, Peace [be] unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

Ver. 23. Fear not: thou shalt not die.] Death is dreadful to nature, as being its slaughter man, and hell’s purveyor. But why should a true believer be fond of life, or afraid of death, since to him it shall be but the day break of eternal brightness? Some heathens counted mortality a mercy.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 23. Fear not: thou shalt not die.] Here the discovery is made by God himself: Gideon is not curiously prying into forbidden mysteries, therefore he shall not die.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(23) The Lord said unto him.—How this intimation was given we are not told. The LXX. do not here change “the Lord” into “the angel of the Lord.”

Peace be unto thee; fear not.—Comp. Dan_10:7-9; Dan_10:19; Eze_1:28 to Eze_2:1; Mar_16:8; Luk_1:13; Luk_2:10; Rev_1:17, &c.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

23. Peace be unto thee] Jehovah cherishes no resentment, nothing but good-will, cf. Gen_43:23. This idea is finely developed by a prophet in Isa_54:9-10.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord,.... On the top of the rock where he had laid his provisions, and which had been consumed by fire issuing out of it, as a token of divine acceptance, and as an assurance of his destroying the Midianites as easily and quickly as the fire had consumed them, and therefore had great encouragement to erect an altar here for God:

and called it Jehovahshalom; the Lord is peace, the author and giver of peace, temporal, spiritual, and eternal; so Jarchi,"the Lord is our peace,''a fit name for the angel that appeared to him, who was no other than the man of peace; who is our peace, the author of peace between God and man. This name he gave the altar, with respect to the words of comfort said to him in his fright:

peace be to thee; and by way of prophecy, that peace would be wrought for Israel by the Lord, and prosperity given them; or by way of prayer, the Lord grant or send peace:

unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites; that is, the altar Gideon built remained to the times of Samuel, the writer of this book, and was then to be seen in the city of Ophrah, which belonged to the family of the Abiezrites, who were of the tribe of Manasseh.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Said to him, as he was ascending into heaven, (Menochius) or the following night. (Calmet) --- It seems that Gedeon heard the angel’s proclamation of peace, and shewed his gratitude by forming the rock, or stone, into a kind of rough altar, which he entitled Yehova shalom, "God’s peace," (Haydock) for doing which he received an order, ver. 26. (Menochius) --- Others erect altars, in various places; but they must be authorized by God. (Calmet) --- Ezri. Protestants, "unto this day it is yet in Ophra, of the Abiezrites." Septuagint is ambiguous. "He, or it, being yet in Ephra," &c. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

The Lord spake by inward suggestion, rather than in a visible apparition.

Peace be unto thee; thou shalt receive no hurt by this vision, as thou fearest; but only peace, i. e. all the blessings needful for thy own happiness, and for the present work; for this is a very comprehensive phrase among the Hebrews.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

23. The Lord said — After having vanished to convince Gideon of his divinity, the Angel returns again to assure his heart. The Angel probably appeared and spoke again just as he did at the beginning of their interview.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

Peace, etc. Cf. Dan_10:19, and Joh_20:21, 26 Luk_24:36-39. Hence the name of the altar, Jehovah-shalom Lord is peace," is at peace with me.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Said unto him - Perhaps by an audible voice. Peace be to thee - Thou shalt receive no hurt by this vision; but only peace, that is, all the blessings needful for thy own happiness, and for the present work.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Judges, in the Historical, opens this verse with 9 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is shâlôwm (“peace”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “peace” (shâlôwm) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does Daniel 10:19, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«וַיֹּ֨אמֶר» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Adam Clarke's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 11 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 9 words in this verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.