1 Samuel 4:9

Bee strong, and quit your selues like men, O ye Philistines, that yee be not seruants vnto the Hebrewes, as they haue bene to you: quit your selues like men, and fight.
- King James Version (1611) - View 1611 Bible Scan

"Take courage and be men, O Philistines, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews, as they have been slaves to you; therefore, be men and fight."
- New American Standard Version (1995)

Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.
- American Standard Version (1901)

Be strong, O Philistines, be men! Do not be servants to the Hebrews as they have been to you: go forward to the fight without fear.
- Basic English Bible

Shew yourselves valiant and be men, ye Philistines, that ye may not have to be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been servants to you: be men, and fight.
- Darby Bible

Be strong, and acquit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye may not be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you: acquit yourselves like men, and fight.
- Webster's Bible

Be strong, and behave like men, O you Philistines, that you not be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Strengthen yourselves like men, and fight!"
- World English Bible

Strengthen yourselves, and become men, O Philistines, lest ye do service to Hebrews, as they have done to you -- then ye have become men, and have fought.'
- Youngs Literal Bible

Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you; quit yourselves like men, and fight.'
- Jewish Publication Society Bible

Wesley's Notes for 1 Samuel 4:9

4:7 Heretofore - Not in our times; for the fore - mentioned removals of the ark were before it came to Shiloh.

4:8 Wo, &c. - They secretly confess the Lord to be greater than their gods, and yet presume to oppose him. Wilderness - They mention the wilderness, not as if all the plagues of the Egyptians came upon them in the wilderness, but because the last and sorest of all, which is therefore put for all, the destruction of Pharaoh and all his host, happened in the wilderness, namely, in the Red - sea, which having the wilderness on both sides of it, may well be said to be in the wilderness. Altho' it is not strange if these Heathens did mistake some circumstance in relation of the Israelitish affairs, especially some hundreds of years after they were done.

4:10 Tent - To his habitation, called by the ancient name of his tent. There fell - Before, they lost but four thousand, now in the presence of the ark, thirty thousand, to teach them that the ark and ordinances of God, were never designed as a refuge to impenitent sinners, but only for the comfort of those that repent.

4:11 The ark - Which God justly and wisely permitted, to punish the Israelites for their profanation of it; that by taking away the pretences of their foolish confidence, he might more deeply humble them, and bring them to true - repentance: and that the Philistines might by this means he more effectually convinced of God's almighty power, and of their own, and the impotency of their gods, and so a stop put to their triumphs and rage against the poor Israelites. Thus as God was no loser by this event, so the Philistines were no gainers by it; and Israel, all things considered, received more good than hurt by it. If Eli had done his duty, and put them from the priesthood, they might have lived, tho' in disgrace. But now God takes the work into his own hands, and chases them out of the world by the sword of the Philistines.