אִטֵּר

From the study of Judges 3:15

Range of meaning

ʾiṭṭēr comes from a root meaning "to shut, close, bind". Ps 69:15 (Hebrew v.16) uses the verb for the pit "closing its mouth". The phrase literally means "bound/shut as to his right hand". It appears only here and in Judg 20:16, where 700 elite Benjaminite slingers are "ʾiṭṭēr in their right hand" and "could sling a stone at a hair and not miss". 1 Chr 12:2 describes Benjaminite warriors who could "use both the right hand and the left" with sling and bow.

Against the English

Almost every English version says "left-handed". That is the practical result, but it loses the Hebrew picture of a right hand that is shut or bound. YLT's "shut of his right hand" keeps it. The Greek ("ambidextrous") and the Latin ("using either hand as the right") read it as a skill.

How it drifted

Modern readers hear "left-handed" as a neutral personal trait. In Israel, as across the ancient world, the right hand stood for strength, honour and skill, so a man "restricted in his right hand" was marked as unusual. The word's form follows the Hebrew pattern used for physical defects (ʿiwwēr "blind", ʾillēm "mute", ḥērēš "deaf", pissēaḥ "lame"), which makes some read it as a disability.

Used elsewhere in the period

Judg 20:16 and 1 Chr 12:2 tie the trait to Benjamin as a military specialty. Some scholars (e.g. Halpern) suggest the right arm was bound in childhood to train fighters to use the left, which would fit the meaning "bound". The LXX has amphoterodexios ("ambidextrous") both here and in 20:16.

From the study of Judges 20:16

Range of meaning

ʾiṭṭēr comes from a root ʾ-ṭ-r meaning 'to shut, close, bind'. Its only other biblical use is Psalm 69:15 (Hebrew 69:16), 'let not the pit close its mouth over me'. The adjective is built on the same pattern as Hebrew words for physical conditions: ʿiwwēr 'blind', ḥērēsh 'deaf', ʾillēm 'mute', pissēaḥ 'lame', gibbēn 'hunchbacked'. Literally, then, 'shut/restricted as to his right hand'. Possible senses: (1) a right hand that was impaired or could not be used normally; (2) an ordinary left-hander, described from a right-handed world's point of view as 'not right-handed'; (3) a man trained to fight left-handed or with both hands, possibly by binding the right arm in youth.

Against the English

Nearly all modern versions say simply 'left-handed'. That is the practical result, but it drops the odd, almost clinical shape of the Hebrew ('restricted in the right hand') and with it the pun on Benjamin, 'son of the right hand'. YLT's 'bound of their right hand' keeps the shape. The Septuagint and Vulgate go the other way and make these men ambidextrous.

How it drifted

'Left-handed' in modern English is a neutral fact about which hand someone prefers. The Hebrew frames the trait as a restriction or abnormality of the right hand, in a culture where the right hand stood for strength, honor and blessing (Gen 48:13–19; Ps 118:15–16). That makes it all the more striking that these 'restricted' men are the elite.

Used elsewhere in the period

Elsewhere only in Judges 3:15, of Ehud son of Gera, the Benjaminite deliverer who hid his sword on his right thigh and killed King Eglon of Moab. 1 Chronicles 12:2 describes Benjaminite kinsmen of Saul who 'could use the right hand and the left' to sling stones and shoot arrows, evidence of a tribal tradition of left-handed or two-handed fighting. The Septuagint renders both Judges passages with amphoterodexios, 'ambidextrous'. Later rabbinic Hebrew uses ʾiṭṭēr as the ordinary word for a left-handed person, e.g. the Babylonian Talmud's discussion of where a left-hander wears tefillin (b. Menaḥot 37a).