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Deceit, Assassination, and Deliverance

12 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight.[a] The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel[b] because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight. 13 Eglon formed alliances with[c] the Ammonites and Amalekites. He came and defeated Israel, and they seized the city of date palm trees.[d] 14 The Israelites were subject to[e] King Eglon of Moab for eighteen years.

15 When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he[f] raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man.[g] The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment.[h] 16 Ehud made himself a sword—it had two edges and was 18 inches long.[i] He strapped it under his coat on his right thigh. 17 He brought the tribute payment to King Eglon of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.)

18 After Ehud brought the tribute payment, he dismissed the people who had carried it.[j] 19 But he went back[k] once he reached[l] the carved images[m] at Gilgal. He said to Eglon,[n] “I have a secret message for you, O king.” Eglon[o] said, “Be quiet!”[p] All his attendants left. 20 When Ehud approached him, he was sitting in his well-ventilated[q] upper room all by himself. Ehud said, “I have a message from God[r] for you.” When Eglon rose up from his seat,[s] 21 Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and drove it into Eglon’s[t] belly. 22 The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for Ehud[u] did not pull the sword out of his belly.[v] 23 As Ehud went out into the vestibule,[w] he closed the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

24 When Ehud had left, Eglon’s[x] servants came and saw the locked doors of the upper room. They said, “He must be relieving himself[y] in the well-ventilated inner room.”[z] 25 They waited so long they were embarrassed, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. Finally they took the key and opened the doors.[aa] Right before their eyes was their master, sprawled out dead on the floor![ab] 26 Now Ehud had escaped while they were delaying. When he passed the carved images, he escaped to Seirah.

27 When he reached Seirah,[ac] he blew a trumpet[ad] in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites went down with him from the hill country, with Ehud in the lead.[ae] 28 He said to them, “Follow me, for the Lord is about to defeat your enemies, the Moabites!”[af] They followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan River[ag] opposite Moab,[ah] and did not let anyone cross. 29 That day they killed about 10,000 Moabites[ai]—all strong, capable warriors; not one escaped. 30 Israel humiliated Moab that day, and the land had rest for eighty years.

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Notas al pie

  1. Judges 3:12 tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord” (also later in this verse).
  2. Judges 3:12 tn Heb “strengthened Eglon…against Israel.”
  3. Judges 3:13 tn Heb “and he gathered to him.”
  4. Judges 3:13 sn The city of date palm trees refers to Jericho. See Deut 34:3.
  5. Judges 3:14 tn Or “the Israelites served Eglon.”
  6. Judges 3:15 tn Heb “the Lord.” This has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  7. 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.
  8. Judges 3:15 tn Heb “The Israelites sent by his hand an offering to Eglon, king of Moab.”
  9. Judges 3:16 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.
  10. Judges 3:18 tn Heb “the tribute payment.”
  11. Judges 3:19 tn Or “returned” (i.e., to Eglon’s palace).
  12. Judges 3:19 tn The words “once he reached” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text simply reads “from.”
  13. Judges 3:19 tn Or “idols.”
  14. Judges 3:19 tn The words “to Eglon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  15. Judges 3:19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eglon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  16. Judges 3:19 tn Or “Hush!”
  17. Judges 3:20 tn Or “cool.” This probably refers to a room with latticed windows which allowed the breeze to pass through. See B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 144.
  18. Judges 3:20 tn Heb “word of [i.e., from] God.”
  19. Judges 3:20 tn Or “throne.”
  20. Judges 3:21 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Eglon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  21. Judges 3:22 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ehud) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  22. Judges 3:22 tc The Hebrew text has “and he went out to the [?].” The word פַּרְשְׁדֹנָה (parshedonah) occurs only here, and is of uncertain meaning. The noun has the directional suffix, meaning “to the parshedon.” Some translations (e.g. KJV, NRSV, NASB, ESV, NKJV) take it as a reference to feces or intestinal organs coming out. This would interpret the noun ending as feminine (not directional). But the verb (וַיֵּצֵא, vayyetseʾ) is masculine so this does not explain the text, even though the notion might fit the context. The subject is either Ehud or the blade–either would match the verb form–and the word in question tells where the subject went out. If the blade (לַהַב, lahav) is the subject, then פַּרְשְׁדֹנָה (parshedonah) might be an anatomical reference describing the exit point; if Ehud is the subject, then the word is probably a technical architectural term. The entire phrase is missing from the LXX. The present translation omits the clause, understanding it as an ancient variant of the first clause in v. 23. See B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 146-48, for discussion of the options.
  23. Judges 3:23 tn Again the precise meaning of the Hebrew word, used only here in the OT, is uncertain. Since it is preceded by the verb “went out” and the next clause refers to Ehud closing doors, the noun is probably an architectural term referring to the room (perhaps a vestibule; see HALOT 604 s.v. מִסְדְּרוֹן) immediately outside the king’s upper chamber. As v. 24 indicates, this vestibule separated the upper room from an outer room where the king’s servants were waiting.
  24. Judges 3:24 tn Heb “his.”
  25. Judges 3:24 tn Heb “covering his feet” (i.e., with his outer garments while he relieves himself).
  26. Judges 3:24 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.
  27. Judges 3:25 tn The words “the doors” are supplied.
  28. Judges 3:25 tn Heb “See, their master, fallen to the ground, dead.”
  29. Judges 3:27 tn Heb “When he arrived.”
  30. Judges 3:27 tn That is, “mustered an army.”
  31. Judges 3:27 tn Heb “now he was before them.”
  32. Judges 3:28 tn Heb “for the Lord has given your enemies, Moab, into your hand.” The verb form (a Hebrew perfect, indicating completed action from the standpoint of the speaker) emphasizes the certainty of the event. Though it had not yet taken place, the Lord speaks of it as a “done deal.”
  33. Judges 3:28 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarity.
  34. Judges 3:28 tn Or “against Moab,” that is, so as to prevent the Moabites from crossing.
  35. Judges 3:29 tn Heb “They struck Moab that day—about ten thousand men.”

Ehud

12 The Israelites again did things that the Lord saw as evil, and the Lord put Moab’s King Eglon in power over them, because they did these things that the Lord saw as evil. 13 He convinced the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, defeated Israel, and took possession of Palm City. 14 So the Israelites served Moab’s King Eglon eighteen years.

15 Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord. So the Lord raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud, Gera’s son, a Benjaminite, who was left-handed. The Israelites sent him to take their tribute payment to Moab’s King Eglon. 16 Now Ehud made for himself a double-edged sword that was about a foot and a half long, and he strapped it on his right thigh under his clothes. 17 Then he presented the tribute payment to Moab’s King Eglon, who was a very fat man. 18 When he had finished delivering the tribute payment, Ehud sent on their way the people who had carried it. 19 But he himself turned back at the carved stones near Gilgal, and he said, “I have a secret message for you, King.”

So Eglon said, “Hush!” and all his attendants went out of his presence. 20 Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in his cool second-story room, and he said, “I have a message from God for you.” At that, Eglon got up from his throne. 21 Ehud reached with his left hand and grabbed the sword from his right thigh. He stabbed it into Eglon’s stomach, 22 and even the handle went in after the blade. Since he did not pull the sword out of his stomach, the fat closed over the blade, and his guts spilled out.[a] 23 Ehud slipped out to the porch, and closed and locked the doors of the second-story room behind him.

24 After Ehud had slipped out, the king’s servants came and found that the room’s doors were locked. So they thought, He must be relieving himself in the cool chamber. 25 They waited so long that they were embarrassed, but he never opened the doors of the room. Then they used the key to open them, and there was their master lying dead on the ground!

26 Ehud had gotten away while they were waiting and had passed the carved stones and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived, he blew the ram’s horn in the Ephraim highlands. So the Israelites went down from the highlands with Ehud leading them. 28 He told them, “Follow me, for the Lord has handed over your enemies the Moabites.” So they followed him, and they took control of the crossing points of the Jordan in the direction of Moab, allowing no one to cross. 29 This time, they defeated the Moabites, about ten thousand big and strong men, and no one escaped. 30 Moab was brought down by the power of Israel on that day, and there was peace in the land for eighty years.

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Notas al pie

  1. Judges 3:22 Heb uncertain