[8][9][10] Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B;

[5] Othniel had the empowerment of 'the spirit of the Lord' (verse 10) to defeat the enemies of Israel and to have the land rest for forty years.

[18] The second judge, a trickster-hero Ehud, succeeded through deception and disguise, 'a marginal person who uses his wits to alter his status at the expense of those holding power over him'.

[5] The ruse was made possible by Ehud's left-handedness, using a Hebrew term which is literally 'bound' or 'impaired with regard to the right hand', indicating an unusual or marginal status as the right being the preferred side in other biblical contexts (cf.

[5] The typical right-handed man would be expected to wear his sword on the left in order to draw with the right hand, thus Ehud could hide his weapon on the opposite side without raising suspicion.

Similar to Samson, Shamgar was superhumanly able to conquer hundreds of the Philistines with a mere ox-goad, a sign of the agrarian roots of the Israelite at this period of time, a national identity that dominated the book of Judges.