Judges 20:16
New International Version
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.

New Living Translation
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.

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

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

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

New King James Version
Among all this people were seven hundred select men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss.

New American Standard Bible
Out of all these people seven hundred choice men were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

NASB 1995
Out of all these people 700 choice men were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

NASB 1977
Out of all these people 700 choice men were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

Legacy Standard Bible
Out of all these people 700 choice men were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

Amplified Bible
Out of all these people were seven hundred choice left-handed men; each one could sling stones at [a target no wider than] a hair and not miss.

Christian Standard Bible
There were seven hundred fit young men who were left-handed among all these troops; all could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

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

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

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Everyone whose right hands were maimed, who threw with a sling against a strong wind and did not miss

Brenton Septuagint Translation
All these could sling with stones at a hair, and not miss.

Contemporary English Version
In this army there were 700 left-handed experts who could sling a rock at a target the size of a hair and hit it every time.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Who were seven hundred most valiant men, fighting with the left hand as well as with the right: and slinging stones so sure that they could hit even a hair, and not miss by the stone's going on either side.

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

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Out of all these troops, the best 700 were left-handed. Each could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

International Standard Version
Out of all these soldiers, 700 of them were left-handed—and each one could sling a stone at a hair and never miss.

JPS Tanakh 1917
All this people, even seven hundred chosen men, were left-handed; every one could sling stones at a hair-breadth, and not miss.

Literal Standard Version
among all this people [are] seven hundred chosen men, their right hand bound, each of these slinging with a stone at the hair, and he does not err.

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

New American Bible
who were left-handed, every one of them able to sling a stone at a hair without missing.

NET Bible
Among this army were seven hundred specially-trained left-handed soldiers. Each one could sling a stone and hit even the smallest target.

New Revised Standard Version
Of all this force, there were seven hundred picked men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair, and not miss.

New Heart English Bible
Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; everyone could sling stones at a hair and not miss.

Webster's Bible Translation
Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; every one could sling stones to a hair-breadth, and not miss.

World English Bible
Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed. Every one of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

Young's Literal Translation
among all this people are seven hundred chosen men, bound of their right hand, each of these slinging with a stone at the hair, and he doth not err.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Decree of the Assembly
15On that day the Benjamites mobilized 26,000 swordsmen from their cities, in addition to the 700 select men of Gibeah. 16Among all these soldiers there were 700 select left-handers, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair without missing. 17The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, mobilized 400,000 swordsmen, each one an experienced warrior.…

Cross References
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.

Judges 20:17
The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, mobilized 400,000 swordsmen, each one an experienced warrior.

1 Samuel 17:40
And David took his staff in his hand, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag. And with his sling in hand, he approached the Philistine.

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):


Treasury of Scripture

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

Judges 3:15
But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.

1 Chronicles 12:2
They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow, even of Saul's brethren of Benjamin.

sling stones

1 Samuel 17:40,49,50
And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine…

1 Samuel 25:29
Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.

2 Chronicles 26:14
And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones.

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Able Bound Breadth Choice Chosen Err Hair Hundred Left-Handed Miss Picked Right Seven Sling Slinging Stone Stones
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Able Bound Breadth Choice Chosen Err Hair Hundred Left-Handed Miss Picked Right Seven Sling Slinging Stone Stones
Judges 20
1. The Levite in a general assembly declared his wrong
8. The decree of the assembly
12. The Benjamites, being cited, make head against the Israelites
18. The Israelites in two battles lose forty thousand
26. They destroy by a plan all the Benjamites, except six hundred.














(16) Seven hundred chosen men.--These words are omitted in the LXX. and Vulg.

Left handed.--The same phrase as that employed in Judges 3:15.

Could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.--The expression is perfectly simple, and merely implies extreme accuracy of aim. Bochart's attempt (Hieroz. Ii. 162) to explain it by a passage in Quintus Smyrn?us, which says that archers used to contend which should be able to shoot off the horsehair crest of a helmet, is a mere specimen of learning fantastically misapplied. Skill with the sling was not confined to the Benjamites, as we see from the case of David (1Samuel 17:49). The sling is the natural weapon of a people which is poor and imperfectly armed. Cyrus valued his force of 400 slingers (Xen. Anab. iii. 3-6). The inhabitants of the Balearic Isles were as skilful as the Benjamites, and children were trained to sling their breakfasts down from the top of high poles. They once prevented the Carthaginian fleet from coming to anchor by showers of stones (liv. xxviii. 37, solo eo telo utebantur). Practice made them so expert that the stones they slung came with as much force as though hurled by a catapult, and pierced shields and helmets (Diod. Sic. Bibl. v. 18). Exactly similar tales are told of the trained skill of our English archers. The advantage of slinging with the left hand was very obvious, for it enabled the slinger to strike his enemy on the right, i.e., the undefended side.

Verse 16. - Seven hundred... men left-handed. It is curious that the tribe of Benjamin, which means son of the right hand, should have this peculiar institution of a corps of left-handed men. Ehud the Benjamite was a man left-handed (Judges 3:15; see also 1 Chronicles 12:2). The Roman name Scaexola means left-handed. For the use of the sling see 1 Samuel 17:40, 49. Diodorus Siculus (quoted by Rosenmuller) mentions the remarkable skill of the inhabitants of the Balearic Islands in the use of the sling, adding, in terms very similar to those of the text, that they seldom miss their aim.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Among all
מִכֹּ֣ל ׀ (mik·kōl)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

these
הַזֶּ֗ה (haz·zeh)
Article | Pronoun - masculine singular
Strong's 2088: This, that

soldiers
הָעָ֣ם (hā·‘ām)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

there were 700
שְׁבַ֤ע (šə·ḇa‘)
Number - feminine singular construct
Strong's 7651: Seven, seven times, a week, an indefinite number

select
בָּח֔וּר (bā·ḥūr)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular
Strong's 970: Selected, a youth

left-handers,
אִטֵּ֖ר (’iṭ·ṭêr)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 334: Shut up, impeded

each of whom
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

could sling
קֹלֵ֧עַ (qō·lê·a‘)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 7049: To sling, hurl forth

a stone
בָּאֶ֛בֶן (bā·’e·ḇen)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 68: A stone

at
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

a hair
הַֽשַּׂעֲרָ֖ה (haś·śa·‘ă·rāh)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8185: Hairiness

without
וְלֹ֥א (wə·lō)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

missing.
יַחֲטִֽא׃ (ya·ḥă·ṭi)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2398: To miss, to sin, to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, lead astray, condemn


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OT History: Judges 20:16 Among all this people there were seven (Jd Judg. Jdg)
Judges 20:15
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