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Judges 3:13-15
New English Translation
Judges 3:13-15
New English Translation
13 Eglon formed alliances with[a] the Ammonites and Amalekites. He came and defeated Israel, and they seized the city of date palm trees.[b] 14 The Israelites were subject to[c] King Eglon of Moab for eighteen years.
15 When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he[d] raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man.[e] The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment.[f]
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- Judges 3:13 tn Heb “and he gathered to him.”
- Judges 3:13 sn The city of date palm trees refers to Jericho. See Deut 34:3.
- Judges 3:14 tn Or “the Israelites served Eglon.”
- Judges 3:15 tn Heb “the Lord.” This has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Judges 3:15 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.
- Judges 3:15 tn Heb “The Israelites sent by his hand an offering to Eglon, king of Moab.”
New English Translation (NET)
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