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 9:28

9:28 Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerub-Baal, and is not Zebul the deputy he appointed? ⁴  Serve the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem! But why should we serve Abimelech? ⁵ 

Judges 18:30

18:30 The Danites worshiped ⁶  the carved image. Jonathan, descendant ⁷  of Gershom, son of Moses, ⁸  and his descendants ⁹  served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the exile.

Judges 20:28

20:28 Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving the Lord ¹⁰  in those days), “Should we ¹¹  once more march out to fight the Benjaminites our brothers, ¹²  or should we ¹³  quit?” The Lord said, “Attack, for tomorrow I will hand them ¹⁴  over to you.”

[3:15]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord.” This has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[3:15]  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.

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

[9:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “and Zebul his appointee.”

[9:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abimelech) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “erected for themselves.”

[18:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “son.”

[18:30]  ⁹ tc Several ancient textual witnesses, including some LXX mss and the Vulgate, support the reading “Moses” (מֹשֶׁה, mosheh) here. Many Hebrew mss have a nun (נ) suspended above the name between the first two letters (מנשׁה), suggesting the name Manasseh (מְנַשֶּׁה, mÿnasheh). This is probably a scribal attempt to protect Moses’ reputation. For discussion, see G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 401-2.

[18:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “sons.”

[20:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “standing before him.”

[20:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I” (collective singular).

[20:28]  ¹² tn Heb “my brother” (collective singular).

[20:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “I” (collective singular).

[20:28]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “him” (collective singular).