Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people who were therein, how they lived in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was none in the land, possessing authority, that might put [them] to shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with any man.
One writer suggested the following translation of Judges 18:7 on the basis of the Arabic cognate of the Hebrew word translated "humiliating" in the NASB: "there was no one speaking with authority in the land, no one in possession of control." [Note: A. A. MacIntosh, "The Meaning of MKLYM in Judges XVIII 7," Vetus Testamentum 35:1 (1985):76.] This translation is possible but probably not as accurate as the NASB marginal reading that suggests that there was no ruler who exercised restraining influence in that area.