Judges 3:10

3:10 The Lord’s spirit empowered him ¹  and he led Israel. When he went to do battle, the Lord handed over to him King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram and he overpowered him. ² 

Judges 3:15

3:15 When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he ³  raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. ⁴  The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment. ⁵ 

Judges 6:21

6:21 The Lord’s messenger touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of his staff. ⁶  Fire flared up from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened bread. The Lord’s messenger then disappeared. ⁷ 

Judges 7:14

7:14 The other man said, ⁸  “Without a doubt this symbolizes ⁹  the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.”

¹ tn Heb “was on him.”

² tn Heb “his hand was strong against Cushan-Rishathaim.”

³ tn Heb “the Lord.” This has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁴ tn The phrase, which refers to Ehud, literally reads “bound/restricted in the right hand,” apparently a Hebrew idiom for a left-handed person. See Judg 20:16, where 700 Benjaminites are described in this way. Perhaps the Benjaminites purposely trained several of their young men to be left-handed warriors by restricting the use of the right hand from an early age so the left hand would become dominant. Left-handed men would have a distinct military advantage, especially when attacking city gates. See B. Halpern, “The Assassination of Eglon: The First Locked-Room Murder Mystery,” BRev 4 (1988): 35.

⁵ tn Heb “The Israelites sent by his hand an offering to Eglon, king of Moab.”

⁵ tn Heb “extended the tip of the staff which was in his hand and touched the meat and unleavened bread.”

⁶ tn Heb “went from his eyes.”

⁷ tn Heb “answered and said.”

⁸ tn Heb “This can be nothing but.”