Judges - 3:21



21 Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body:

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Judges 3:21.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:
And Aod put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly,
And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly;
And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:
and Ehud putteth forth his left hand, and taketh the sword from off his right thigh, and striketh it into his belly;
And Ehud put out his left hand, and took the sword from his right side, and sent it into his stomach;
And Ehud extended his left hand, and he took the dagger from his right thigh. And he thrust it into his abdomen

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh,.... Being, as before observed, a lefthanded man; Judges 3:15, and this he could the better do, without being taken notice of by the king, who, if he saw him move his left hand, would have no suspicion of his going to draw a dagger with it, and which also was hidden under his raiment, Judges 3:16,
and thrust it into his belly; Josephus (d) says into his heart; it is certain the wound was mortal, and must have been in a part on which, life depended.
(d) Antiqu. l. 5. c. 4. sect. 2.

Ehud put forth his left hand--The whole circumstance of this daring act--the death of Eglon without a shriek, or noise--the locking of the doors--the carrying off the key--the calm, unhurried deportment of Ehud--show the strength of his confidence that he was doing God service.

But when the king stood up, Ehud drew his sword from under his garment, and plunged it so deeply into his abdomen that even the hilt followed the blade, and the fat closed upon the blade (so that there was nothing to be seen of it in front, because he did not draw the sword again out of his body), and the blade came out between the legs. The last words have been rendered in various ways. Luther follows the Chaldee and Vulgate, and renders it "so that the dirt passed from him," taking the ἁπ. λεγ. פּרשׁדנה as a composite noun from פּרשׁ, stercus, and שׁדה, jecit. But this is hardly correct, as the form of the word פּרשׁדנה, and its connection with יצא, rather points to a noun, פּרשׁדן, with ה local. The explanation given by Gesenius in his Thes. and Hebrews. lex. has much more in its favour, viz., interstitium pedum, the place between the legs, from an Arabic word signifying pedes dissitos habuit, used as a euphemism for anus, podex. The subject to the verb is the blade.
(Note: At any rate the rendering suggested by Ewald, "Ehud went into the open air, or into the enclosure, the space in front of the Alija," is untenable, for the simple reason that it is perfectly irreconcilable with the next clause, "Ehud went forth," etc. (consequently Fr. Bttcher proposes to erase this clause from the text, without any critical authority whatever). For if Ehud were the subject to the verb, the subject would necessarily have been mentioned, as it really is in the next clause, Judges 3:23.)

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