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 3:21

3:21 Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and drove it into Eglon’s ⁴  belly.

Judges 3:19-20

3:19 But he went back ⁵  once he reached ⁶  the carved images ⁷  at Gilgal. He said to Eglon, ⁸  “I have a secret message for you, O king.” Eglon ⁹  said, “Be quiet!” ¹⁰  All his attendants left. 3:20 When Ehud approached him, he was sitting in his well-ventilated ¹¹  upper room all by himself. Ehud said, “I have a message from God ¹²  for you.” When Eglon rose up from his seat, ¹³ 

Judges 3:24

3:24 When Ehud had left, Eglon’s ¹⁴  servants came and saw the locked doors of the upper room. They said, “He must be relieving himself ¹⁵  in the well-ventilated inner room.” 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 This has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.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 “his”; the referent (Eglon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Or “returned” (i.e., to Eglon’s palace).

⁸ tn The words “when he reached” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text simply reads “from.”

⁹ tn Or “idols.”

¹⁰ tn The words “to Eglon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eglon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Or “Hush!”

¹⁰ tn Or “cool.” This probably refers to a room with latticed windows which allowed the breeze to pass through. See B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 144.

¹¹ tn Heb “word of [i.e., from] God.”

¹² tn Or “throne.”

¹³ tn Heb “his.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “covering his feet” (i.e., with his outer garments while he relieves himself).

¹⁵ tn The Hebrew expression translated “well-ventilated inner room” may refer to the upper room itself or to a bathroom attached to or within it.