Judges 3:23-25

3:23 As Ehud went out into the vestibule, ¹  he closed the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

3:24 When Ehud had left, Eglon’s ²  servants came and saw the locked doors of the upper room. They said, “He must be relieving himself ³  in the well-ventilated inner room.” ⁴  3:25 They waited so long they were embarrassed, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. Finally they took the key and opened the doors. ⁵  Right before their eyes was their master, sprawled out dead on the floor! ⁶ 

Judges 11:31

11:31 then whoever is the first to come through ⁷  the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites – he ⁸  will belong to the Lord and ⁹  I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”

Judges 19:27

19:27 When her master ¹⁰  got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went outside to start on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, sprawled out on the doorstep of the house with her hands on the threshold.

Judges 16:3

16:3 Samson spent half the night with the prostitute; then he got up in the middle of the night and left. ¹¹  He grabbed the doors of the city gate, as well as the two posts, and pulled them right off, bar and all. ¹²  He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of a hill east of Hebron. ¹³ 

Judges 19:22

19:22 They were having a good time, ¹⁴  when suddenly ¹⁵  some men of the city, some good-for-nothings, ¹⁶  surrounded the house and kept beating ¹⁷  on the door. They said to the old man who owned the house, “Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.” ¹⁸ 

[3:23]  ¹ tn Again the precise meaning of the Hebrew word, used only here in the OT, is uncertain. Since it is preceded by the verb “went out” and the next clause refers to Ehud closing doors, the noun is probably an architectural term referring to the room (perhaps a vestibule; see HALOT 604 s.v. מִסְדְּרוֹן) immediately outside the king’s upper chamber. As v. 24 indicates, this vestibule separated the upper room from an outer room where the king's servants were waiting.

[3:24]  ² tn Heb “his.”

[3:24]  ³ tn Heb “covering his feet” (i.e., with his outer garments while he relieves himself).

[3:24]  ⁴ 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.

[3:25]  ³ tn The words “the doors” are supplied.

[3:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “See, their master, fallen to the ground, dead.”

[11:31]  ⁴ tn Heb “the one coming out, who comes out from.” The text uses a masculine singular participle with prefixed article, followed by a relative pronoun and third masculine singular verb. The substantival masculine singular participle הַיּוֹצֵא (hayyotse’, “the one coming out”) is used elsewhere of inanimate objects (such as a desert [Num 21:13] or a word [Num 32:24]) or persons (Jer 5:6; 21:9; 38:2). In each case context must determine the referent. Jephthah may have envisioned an animal meeting him, since the construction of Iron Age houses would allow for an animal coming through the doors of a house (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 208). But the fact that he actually does offer up his daughter indicates the language of the vow is fluid enough to encompass human beings, including women. He probably intended such an offering from the very beginning, but he obviously did not expect his daughter to meet him first.

[11:31]  ⁵ tn The language is fluid enough to include women and perhaps even animals, but the translation uses the masculine pronoun because the Hebrew form is grammatically masculine.

[11:31]  ⁶ tn Some translate “or,” suggesting that Jephthah makes a distinction between humans and animals. According to this view, if a human comes through the door, then Jephthah will commit him/her to the Lord’s service, but if an animal comes through the doors, he will offer it up as a sacrifice. However, it is far more likely that the Hebrew construction (vav [ו] + perfect) specifies how the subject will become the Lord’s, that is, by being offered up as a sacrifice. For similar constructions, where the apodosis of a conditional sentence has at least two perfects (each with vav) in sequence, see Gen 34:15-16; Exod 18:16.

[19:27]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term here translated “master,” is plural. The plural indicates degree here and emphasizes the Levite’s absolute sovereignty over the woman.

[16:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “And Samson lay until the middle of the night and arose in the middle of the night.”

[16:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “with the bar.”

[16:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “which is upon the face of Hebron.”

[19:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “they were making their heart good.”

[19:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “and look.”

[19:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “the men of the city, men, the sons of wickedness.” The phrases are in apposition; the last phrase specifies what type of men they were. It is not certain if all the men of the city are in view, or just a group of troublemakers. In 20:5 the town leaders are implicated in the crime, suggesting that all the men of the city were involved. If so, the implication is that the entire male population of the town were good-for-nothings.

[19:22]  ¹⁰ tn The Hitpael verb form appears to have an iterative force here, indicating repeated action.

[19:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “so we can know him.” On the surface one might think they simply wanted to meet the visitor and get to know him, but their hostile actions betray their double-talk. The old man, who has been living with them long enough to know what they are like, seems to have no doubts about the meaning of their words (see v. 23).