Judges 6:4

4 and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the eretz, until you come to `Aza, and left no sustenance in Yisra'el, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey.

Judges 6:4 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 6:4

And they encamped against them
Formed a camp, from whence they sent out parties to plunder the people; or

``they were fixing their tents among them,''

as the Vulgate Latin version; and so the Targum,

``they dwelt by them,''

or fixed their habitations by them; for they seem not to have come as a regular army, but as a sort of banditti to pillage, and plunder, and destroy the fruits of the earth; and the Midianites and Arabians dwelt in tents chiefly:

and destroyed the increase of the earth;
the corn and grass before they were well ripe, and fit to cut down; this they did, and gave it to their cattle, and the rest they carried off:

till thou come unto Gaza;
a principality of the Philistines, which lay in the western part of Canaan, on the shore of the Mediterranean sea; so that as these people came out of the east, and entered the eastern part, they went through the whole land from east to west, cutting down all the fruits of the earth for forage for their cattle:

and left no sustenance for Israel;
nothing to support life with, cutting down their corn and their grass, their vines and olives, so that they had nothing to live upon:

neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass;
not anything for those creatures to live upon, nor did not leave any of them, but carried them all away.

Judges 6:4 In-Context

2 The hand of Midyan prevailed against Yisra'el; and because of Midyan the children of Yisra'el made them the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.

3 So it was, when Yisra'el had sown, that the Midyanim came up, and the `Amaleki, and the children of the east; they came up against them;

4 and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the eretz, until you come to `Aza, and left no sustenance in Yisra'el, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey.

5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents; they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy it.

6 Yisra'el was brought very low because of Midyan; and the children of Yisra'el cried to the LORD.