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 7:24

Gideon Appeases the Ephraimites

7:24 Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, “Go down and head off the Midianites. ⁴  Take control of the fords of the streams ⁵  all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.” ⁶  When all the Ephraimites had assembled, ⁷  they took control of the fords ⁸  all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.

Judges 13:6

13:6 The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God ⁹  came to me! He looked like God’s angelic messenger – he was very awesome. ¹⁰  I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.

Judges 16:18

16:18 When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret, ¹¹  she sent for ¹²  the rulers of the Philistines, saying, “Come up here again, for he has told me ¹³  his secret.” ¹⁴  So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands.

Judges 18:2

18:2 The Danites sent out from their whole tribe five representatives, ¹⁵  capable men ¹⁶  from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the Ephraimite hill country and spent the night at Micah’s house. ¹⁷ 

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 This has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

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 tn Heb “The Israelites sent by his hand an offering to Eglon, king of Moab.”

⁴ tn Heb “to meet Midian.”

⁵ tn Heb “capture before them the waters.”

⁶ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification (also later in this verse).

⁷ tn Heb “And all the men of Ephraim were summoned.”

⁸ tn Heb “they captured the waters.”

⁹ tn Heb “The man of God.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “His appearance was like the appearance of the messenger of God, very awesome.”

¹¹ tn Heb “all his heart.”

¹² tn Heb “she sent and summoned.”

¹³ tc The translation follows the Qere, לִי (li, “to me”) rather than the Kethib, לָהּ (lah, “to her”).

¹⁴ tn Heb “all his heart.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “The Danites sent from their tribe five men, from their borders.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “They came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, and spent the night there.”