Judges 3:15

3:15 When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he ¹  raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. ²  The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment. ³ 

Judges 10:6

The Lord’s Patience Runs Short

10:6 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. ⁴  They worshiped ⁵  the Baals and the Ashtars, ⁶  as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon, ⁷  Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. ⁸  They abandoned the Lord and did not worship ⁹  him.

Judges 14:16

14:16 So Samson’s bride cried on his shoulder ¹⁰  and said, “You must ¹¹  hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men ¹²  a riddle, but you have not told me the solution.” He said to her, “Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?” ¹³ 

Judges 18:2

18:2 The Danites sent out from their whole tribe five representatives, ¹⁴  capable men ¹⁵  from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the Ephraimite hill country and spent the night at Micah’s house. ¹⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “the Lord.” This has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

² 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.

³ tn Heb “The Israelites sent by his hand an offering to Eglon, king of Moab.”

⁴ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”

⁵ tn Or “served;” or “followed.”

⁶ sn The Ashtars were local manifestations of the goddess Ashtar (i.e., Astarte).

⁷ map For location see Map1-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

⁸ tn Heb “the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines.”

⁹ tn Or “serve”; or “follow.”

⁷ tn Heb “on him.”

⁸ tn Heb “only”; or “simply.”

⁹ tn Heb “the sons of my people.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “Should I tell you?”

¹⁰ tn Heb “The Danites sent from their tribe five men, from their borders.”

¹¹ tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

¹² tn Heb “They came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, and spent the night there.”