The Meaning of Judges 6:5 Explained

Judges 6:5

KJV: For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.

YLT: for they and their cattle come up, with their tents; they come in as the fulness of the locust for multitude, and of them and of their cattle there is no number, and they come into the land to destroy it.

Darby: For they would come up with their cattle and their tents, coming like locusts for number; both they and their camels could not be counted; so that they wasted the land as they came in.

ASV: 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.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For they came up  with their cattle  and their tents,  and they came  {08675;0935:08799} as  grasshoppers  for multitude;  [for] both they and their camels  were without number:  and they entered  into the land  to destroy  it. 

What does Judges 6:5 Mean?

Context Summary

Judges 6:1-6 - At The Mercy Of Midian
What a contrast our reading suggests between those that love the Lord and go from strength to strength in the undimming luster and influence of their life, and the evil that once more brought the tyrant's yoke upon this neck of Israel! Yet these alternations have too often befallen us. At one moment Sisera and his hosts are chased before us as sheep before the dog; then a reaction sets in and the hand of Midian prevails against us. Why are we not always glad, strong, and victorious? Is it not because we look to our moods, we relax our close walk with God, and we set up the images of Baal in our hearts? We are then reduced to the plight described here and in Haggai 1:6. Why are there not more conversions in the Church? Why is there so little difference between the Church and the world? Why is so much of our Sunday-school teaching ineffective? Ah, the Midianite is in our midst and we acquiesce! The urgent, primal need of the present day is for the Church to realize her true condition, and cry mightily unto God for help. Note Judges 6:6 and Joel 1:14, etc. [source]

Chapter Summary: Judges 6

1  The Israelites for their sin are oppressed by Midian
8  A prophet rebukes them
11  An angel sends Gideon for their deliverance
17  Gideon's present is consumed with fire
24  Gideon destroys Baal's altar; offers a sacrifice upon the altar Jehovah-shalom
28  Joash defends his son, and calls him Jerubbaal
33  Gideon's army
36  Gideon's signs

What do the individual words in Judges 6:5 mean?

For they and with their livestock would come up and their tents - coming in as numerous as locusts for number and both they and their camels were without number and they would enter the land to destroy it
כִּ֡י הֵם֩ וּמִקְנֵיהֶ֨ם יַעֲל֜וּ וְאָהֳלֵיהֶ֗ם [יבאו] (וּבָ֤אוּ) כְדֵֽי־ אַרְבֶּה֙ לָרֹ֔ב וְלָהֶ֥ם וְלִגְמַלֵּיהֶ֖ם אֵ֣ין מִסְפָּ֑ר וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ בָאָ֖רֶץ לְשַׁחֲתָֽהּ

וּמִקְנֵיהֶ֨ם  and  with  their  livestock 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine plural construct, third person masculine plural
Root: מִקְנֶה  
Sense: cattle, livestock.
יַעֲל֜וּ  would  come  up 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: סָלַק 
Sense: to go up, ascend, climb.
וְאָהֳלֵיהֶ֗ם  and  their  tents 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine plural construct, third person masculine plural
Root: אֹהֶל  
Sense: tent.
[יבאו]  - 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
(וּבָ֤אוּ)  coming  in 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive perfect, third person common plural
Root: בֹּוא 
Sense: to go in, enter, come, go, come in.
כְדֵֽי־  as  numerous  as 
Parse: Preposition-k, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: בְּדֵי 
Sense: sufficiency, enough.
אַרְבֶּה֙  locusts 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אַרְבֶּה  
Sense: a kind of locust, locust swarm (coll).
לָרֹ֔ב  for  number 
Parse: Preposition-l, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: רֹב  
Sense: multitude, abundance, greatness.
וְלָהֶ֥ם  and  both  they 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition, third person masculine plural
וְלִגְמַלֵּיהֶ֖ם  and  their  camels 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Noun, masculine plural construct, third person masculine plural
Root: גָּמָל  
Sense: camel.
אֵ֣ין  were  without 
Parse: Adverb
Root: אַיִן 
Sense: nothing, not, nought n.
מִסְפָּ֑ר  number 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: מִסְפָּר  
Sense: number, tale.
וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ  and  they  would  enter 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: בֹּוא 
Sense: to go in, enter, come, go, come in.
בָאָ֖רֶץ  the  land 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, feminine singular
Root: אֶרֶץ  
Sense: land, earth.
לְשַׁחֲתָֽהּ  to  destroy  it 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Piel, Infinitive construct, third person feminine singular
Root: שָׁחַת  
Sense: to destroy, corrupt, go to ruin, decay.