Judges 1:8

1:8 The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it. They put the sword to it and set the city on fire.

Judges 1:25

1:25 He showed them a secret entrance into the city, and they put the city to the sword. But they let the man and his extended family leave safely.

Judges 3:16

3:16 Ehud made himself a sword – it had two edges and was eighteen inches long. ¹  He strapped it under his coat on his right thigh.

Judges 3:21-22

3:21 Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and drove it into Eglon’s ²  belly. 3:22 The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for Ehud ³  did not pull the sword out of his belly. ⁴ 

Judges 4:15

4:15 The Lord routed ⁵  Sisera, all his chariotry, and all his army with the edge of the sword. ⁶  Sisera jumped out of ⁷  his chariot and ran away on foot.

Judges 8:20

8:20 He ordered Jether his firstborn son, “Come on! ⁸  Kill them!” But Jether was too afraid to draw his sword, ⁹  because he was still young.

Judges 20:15

20:15 That day the Benjaminites mustered from their cities twenty-six thousand sword-wielding soldiers, besides seven hundred well-trained soldiers from Gibeah. ¹⁰ 

Judges 20:17

20:17 The men of Israel (not counting Benjamin) had mustered four hundred thousand sword-wielding soldiers, every one an experienced warrior. ¹¹ 

Judges 20:37

20:37 The men hiding in ambush made a mad dash ¹²  to Gibeah. They ¹³  attacked ¹⁴  and put the sword to the entire city.

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¹ tn The Hebrew term גֹּמֶד (gomed) denotes a unit of linear measure, perhaps a cubit (the distance between the elbow and the tip of the middle finger – approximately 18 inches [45 cm]). Some suggest it is equivalent to the short cubit (the distance between the elbow and the knuckles of the clenched fist – approximately 13 inches [33 cm]) or to the span (the distance between the end of the thumb and the end of the little finger in a spread hand – approximately 9 inches [23 cm]). See BDB 167 s.v.; HALOT 196 s.v.; B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 142.

² tn Heb “his”; the referent (Eglon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ehud) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn The Hebrew text has “and he went out to the [?].” The meaning of the Hebrew word פַּרְשְׁדֹנָה (parshÿdonah) which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. The noun has the article prefixed and directive suffix. The word may be a technical architectural term, indicating the area into which Ehud moved as he left the king and began his escape. In this case Ehud is the subject of the verb “went out.” The present translation omits the clause, understanding it as an ancient variant of the first clause in v. 23. Some take the noun as “back,” understand “sword” (from the preceding clause) as the subject, and translate “the sword came out his [i.e., Eglon’s] back.” But this rendering is unlikely since the Hebrew word for “sword” (חֶרֶב, kherev) is feminine and the verb form translated “came out” (וַיֵּצֵא, vayyetse’) is masculine. (One expects agreement in gender when the subject is supplied from the preceding clause. See Ezek 33:4, 6.) See B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 146-48, for discussion of the options.

⁵ tn Or “caused to panic.”

⁶ tn The Hebrew text also includes the phrase “before Barak.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁷ tn Heb “got down from.”

⁸ tn Or “Arise!”

⁹ tn Heb “did not draw his sword for he was afraid.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “besides from the ones living in Gibeah they mustered seven hundred choice men.”

¹¹ tn Heb “a man of war.”

¹² tn Heb “hurried and put off [their hiding place].”

¹³ tn Heb “the men hiding in ambush.”

¹⁴ tn Or “deployed.” The verb normally means “to lead” or “to draw.”