Judges 20:16 BSB — MannaFest

Judges 20:16

Among all these soldiers there were 700 select left-handers, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair without missing.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at a hair-breadth, and not miss.

KJV

Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.

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Commentary

3 voices

John Gill

1697–1771

Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded,.... According to Ben Gersom, these were the seven hundred men of Gibeah; but this does not appear from the text, but, on the contrary, that these were among all the people; or there were so many to be selected out of them all, who were lefthanded men; nor is it likely that all the inhabitants of one place should be such. Benjamin signifies a son of the right hand, yet this tribe had a great number of lefthanded men in it, see Jdg 3:

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

Left-handed - They were ambidexters - could use the right hand and the left with equal ease and effect. See the note on Jdg 3:15. Could sling stones at a hair - and not miss - ולא יחטא velo yachati, and not sin: και ουκ εξαμαρτανοντες; Sept. Here we have the true import of the term sin; it signifies simply to miss the mark, and is well translated in the New Testament by ἁμαρτανω, from α, negative, and μαρπτω, to hit the mark.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

The Hebrew sling was probably similar to that of the Egyptian, consisting of a leather thong, broad in the middle, with a loop at one end, by which it was firmly held with the hand; the other end terminated in a lash, which was let slip when the stone was thrown.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

18 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
מִכֹּ֣ל׀	mi.Kol	[were] from all	H3605 →
הָעָ֣ם	ha.'Am	the people	H5971 →
הַזֶּ֗ה	ha.Zeh	<the> this	H2088 →
שְׁבַ֤ע	she.Va'	seven	H7651 →
מֵאוֹת֙	me.'Ot	hundred<s>	H3967 →
אִ֣ישׁ	'ish	man	H376 →
בָּח֔וּר	ba.Chur	chosen	H977 →
אִטֵּ֖ר	'i.Ter	impeded	H334 →
יַד־	yad-	[the] hand of	H3027 →
יְמִינ֑וֹ	ye.mi.No	right his	H3225 →
כָּל־	kol-	all	H3605 →
זֶ֗ה	Zeh	this	H2088 →
קֹלֵ֧עַ	ko.Le.a'	[was] slinging	H7049 →
בָּאֶ֛בֶן	ba.'E.ven	with the stone	H68 →
אֶל־	'el-	to	H413 →
הַֽשַּׂעֲרָ֖ה	ha.sa.'a.Rah	the single hair	H8185 →
וְלֹ֥א	ve.Lo'	and not	H3808 →
יַחֲטִֽא׃ פ	ya.cha.Ti'	he missed	H2398 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
1 Samuel 25:29
And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling…
leads to
- John 17:21
  that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
- Matthew 10:29–30
  Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.
- Malachi 3:17
  “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “on the day when I prepare My treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.
- Psalms 116:15
  Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.
- John 17:23
  I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me.
Through
Judges 3:15
And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.
leads to
- Judges 3:9
  But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, He raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz as a deliverer to save them.
- Psalms 78:34
  When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.
Through
1 Chronicles 12:2
they were archers using both the right and left hands to sling stones and shoot arrows; and they were Saul’s kinsmen from Benjamin):
leads to
- Judges 3:15
  And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

About Judges

The Death of Samson — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Judges: the study guide →Read chapter 20 →The featured study →

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01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

06About Judges

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

About Judges