Judges 3:11-15

3:11 The land had rest for forty years; then Othniel son of Kenaz died.

Deceit, Assassination, and Deliverance

3:12 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹  The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel ²  because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight. 3:13 Eglon formed alliances with ³  the Ammonites and Amalekites. He came and defeated Israel, and they seized the City of Date Palm Trees. 3:14 The Israelites were subject to ⁴  King Eglon of Moab for eighteen years.

3:15 When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he ⁵  raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. ⁶  The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment. ⁷ 

[3:12]  ¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord” (also later in this verse).

[3:12]  ² tn Heb “strengthened Eglon…against Israel.”

[3:13]  ³ tn Heb “and he gathered to him.”

[3:14]  ⁴ tn Or “the Israelites served Eglon.”

[3:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord.” This has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[3:15]  ⁶ 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.

[3:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “The Israelites sent by his hand an offering to Eglon, king of Moab.”