Hakim-hakim 3:21-22

3:21 Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and drove it into Eglon’s ¹  belly. 3:22 The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for Ehud ²  did not pull the sword out of his belly. ³ 

Hakim-hakim 3:24

3:24 When Ehud had left, Eglon’s ⁴  servants came and saw the locked doors of the upper room. They said, “He must be relieving himself ⁵  in the well-ventilated inner room.” ⁶ 

Hakim-hakim 5:14

5:14 They came from Ephraim, who uprooted Amalek, ⁷ 

they follow ⁸  after you, Benjamin, with your soldiers.

From Makir leaders came down,

from Zebulun came ⁹  the ones who march carrying ¹⁰  an officer’s staff.

Hakim-hakim 7:23

7:23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites. ¹¹ 

Hakim-hakim 8:5

8:5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Give ¹²  some loaves of bread to the men ¹³  who are following me, ¹⁴  because they are exhausted. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

[3:21]  ¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Eglon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:22]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ehud) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:22]  ³ 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.

[3:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “his.”

[3:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “covering his feet” (i.e., with his outer garments while he relieves himself).

[3:24]  ⁶ 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.

[5:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “From Ephraim their root in Amalek” (the words “they came” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons). Because of the difficulty of the MT, many prefer to follow one of the ancient versions or emend the text. For various proposals see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 252-53. The present translation repoints שָׁרְשָׁם (shorsham, traditionally translated “their root”) as a Piel verb form with enclitic mem (ם). The preposition ב (bet) on עֲמָלֵק (’amaleq) introduces the object (see Job 31:12 for an example of the construction). Ephraim’s territory encompassed the hill country of the Amalekites (Judg 12:15).

[5:14]  ⁸ tn The words “They follow” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[5:14]  ⁹ tn The word “came” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[5:14]  ¹⁰ tn Or possibly “who carry.”

[7:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Midian.”

[8:5]  ¹² tn Or perhaps, “sell.”

[8:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “people.” The translation uses “men” because these were warriors and in ancient Israelite culture would have been exclusively males.

[8:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “who are at my feet.”