Judges 20:16

16 Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred select troops who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

Judges 20:16 in Other Translations

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

16 Among all these were 700 chosen men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

16 Among Benjamin’s elite troops, 700 were left-handed, and each of them could sling a rock and hit a target within a hairsbreadth without missing.

16 There were another 700 super marksmen who were ambidextrous - they could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

16 There were 700 choice men who were left-handed among all these people; all could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

Judges 20:16 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:16

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 ( Judges 3:15 ) . Josephus ^F8 wrongly reduces the number to five hundred:

everyone could sling stones at an hair's breadth, and not miss:
the mark they slung the stone at, so very expert were they at it; and perhaps their having such a number of skilful men in this art made them more confident of success, and emboldened them in this daring undertaking, to point to which this circumstance seems to be mentioned. There were a people that inhabited the islands, now called Majorca and Minorca, anciently Baleares, from their skilfulness in slinging stones, to which they brought up from their childhood, as it is related various writers, Strabo ^F9, Diodorus Siculus ^F11, Floras ^F12 and others ^F13; that their mothers used to set their breakfast on a beam or post, or some such thing, at a distance, which they were not to have, unless they could strike it off; and the first of these writers says, that they exercised this art from the time that the Phoenicians held these islands; and, according to Pliny ^F14, the Phoenicians, the old inhabitants of Canaan, were the first inventors of slings, and from these the Benjaminites might learn it. The Indians are said ^F15 to be very expert in slinging stones to an hair's breadth.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 10.
F9 Geograph l. 3. p. 116.
F11 Bibliothec. l. 5. p. 298.
F12 Roman Cost. l. 3. c. 8.
F13 Vid. Barthii Ammadv. ad Claudian. in 3 Consul. Honor. ver. 50.
F14 Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 56.
F15 Philoetrat. Vit. Apollon. l. 2. c. 12.

Judges 20:16 In-Context

14 From their towns they came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites.

15 At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred able young men from those living in Gibeah.

16 Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred select troops who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

17 Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fit for battle.

18 The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, “Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Benjamites?” The LORD replied, “Judah shall go first.”

Cross References

• 1. S Judges 3:15; 1 Chronicles 12:2