Judges 3:3

3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.

Judges 3:3 in Other Translations

3 Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.

3 These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.

3 These are the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers), all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.

3 He left the five Philistine tyrants, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon to Hamath's Pass.

3 [These nations included:] the five rulers of the Philistines and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanese mountains from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath.

Judges 3:3 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 3:3

[Namely], five lords of the Philistines
The places they were lords of were Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron; see ( Joshua 13:3 ) ; three of these, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron, had been taken from them by Judah, since the death of Joshua, ( Judges 1:18 ) ; but they soon recovered them again, perhaps by the help of the other two. The Philistines were a people originally of Egypt, but came from thence and settled in these parts, and were here as early as in the times of Abraham, and were very troublesome neighbours to the Israelites in later times; see ( Genesis 10:14 ) ( Genesis 21:32 Genesis 21:33 ) ;

and all the Canaanites;
these were a particular tribe or nation in the land so called, which inhabited by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan, ( Numbers 13:29 ) ; otherwise this is the general name for the seven nations:

and the Sidonians;
the inhabitants of the famous city of Sidon, which had its name from the firstborn of Canaan, ( Genesis 10:15 ) ;

and the Hivites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon;
on the north of the land of Canaan:

from Mount Baalhermon;
the eastern part of Lebanon, the same with Baalgad, where Baal was worshipped:

unto the entering in of Hamath;
the boundary of the northern part of the land, which entrance led into the valley between Libanus and Antilibanus; see ( Numbers 34:8 ) ( Joshua 11:3 ) ( 13:5 ) .

Judges 3:3 In-Context

1 These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan

2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience):

3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.

4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.

5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

Cross References

• 1. S Joshua 13:3
• 2. S Genesis 10:14
• 3. S Genesis 10:17; S Exodus 3:8
• 4. S Deuteronomy 3:8
• 5. S Numbers 13:21