1:33 The men of Naphtali did not conquer the people living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath. 4 They live among the Canaanites residing in the land. The Canaanites 5 living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were forced to do hard labor for them.
3:15 When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he 11 raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. 12 The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment. 13
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
He said to them,
“If you had not plowed with my heifer, 19
you would not have solved my riddle!”
18:7 So the five men journeyed on 26 and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there 27 were living securely, like the Sidonians do, 28 undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. 29 They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 30
1 tn Heb “Judah said to Simeon, his brother.”
2 tn Heb “Come up with me into our allotted land and let us attack the Canaanites.”
3 tn Heb “I.” The Hebrew pronoun is singular, agreeing with the collective singular “Judah” earlier in the verse. English style requires a plural pronoun here, however.
4 tn Heb “the people living in Beth Shemesh or the people living in Beth Anath.”
5 tn The term “Canaanites” is supplied here both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
6 tn Or “did not listen to.”
7 tn Or “bowed before.”
8 tn Or “way [of life].”
9 tn Or “fathers.”
10 tn Heb “…walked, obeying the
11 tn Heb “the
12 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.
13 tn Heb “The Israelites sent by his hand an offering to Eglon, king of Moab.”
14 tn Heb “too many people.”
15 tn Heb “test them for you there.”
16 tn Heb “he should go with you.”
17 tn Heb also has “to you.”
18 tn Heb “he should not go.”
19 sn Plowed with my heifer. This statement emphasizes that the Philistines had utilized a source of information which should have been off-limits to them. Heifers were used in plowing (Hos 10:11), but one typically used one’s own farm animals, not another man’s.
20 tn Heb “are upon you.”
21 tn Heb “And the ones lying in wait were sitting in the bedroom.”
22 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the ropes) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
23 tn Heb “The Danites sent from their tribe five men, from their borders.”
24 tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”
25 tn Heb “They came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, and spent the night there.”
26 tn Or “went.”
27 tn Heb “who were in its midst.”
28 tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”
29 tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”
30 tc Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX and Symmachus read “Syria” here rather than the MT’s “men.” This reading presupposes a Hebrew Vorlage אֲרָם (’aram, “Aram,” i.e., Arameans) rather than the MT reading אָדָם (’adam). This reading is possibly to be preferred over the MT.
31 tn Or “people.”
32 tn Heb “to do at their arrival in Geba of Benjamin according to all the disgraceful [thing] which he [collective = “Benjamin”] did in Israel.” Here “Geba” must be an error for “Gibeah.”
33 tn Heb “standing before him.”
34 tn Heb “I” (collective singular).
35 tn Heb “my brother” (collective singular).
36 tn Heb “I” (collective singular).
37 tn Heb “him” (collective singular).
38 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the rest [of the Benjaminites]) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
39 tn Heb “and they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
40 tn Heb “gleaned.” The word is an agricultural term which pictures Israelites picking off the Benjaminites as easily as one picks grapes from the vine.
41 tn Heb “stuck close after them.”