Judges 5:26

“She put her hand to the nail , etc.] Her left hand, as the Septuagint, Arabic, and Vulgate Latin versions express it, and as appears by what follows; she having taken up a pin from her tent, with which it was fastened to the ground, she clapped it to the temples of Sisera: and her right hand to the workman’s hammer ; in her right hand she took a hammer, such as carpenters, and such like workmen, make use of, and workman like went about her business she had devised, and was determined upon, being under a divine impulse, and so had no fear or dread upon her: and with the hammer she smote Sisera ; not that with the hammer she struck him on the head, and stunned him, but smote the nail she had…”

“Rather “she smote his head, and she struck and pierced through his temple.” return to 'Top of Page'”

“with the: Heb. She hammered she smote off: Or rather, "she smote his head, then she struck through and pierced his temples:" which is more consonant to the original, and to fact, as it does not appear that she smote off his head. Sa1 17:49-51; Sa2 20:22 Judges 5:27”

“"Her hand," i.e., the left hand, as is shown by the antithesis, "her right hand," which follows. On the form תּשׁלחנה, the third pers. fem. sing. with נה attached, to distinguish it the more clearly from the second pers., see the remarks on Exo 1:10. עמלים הלמוּת, hammer or mallet of the hard workers, is a large heavy hammer. For the purpose of depicting the boldness and greatness of the deed, the words are crowded together in the second hemistich: הלם, to hammer, or smite with the hammer; מחק, ἁπ. λεγ., to smite in pieces, smite through; מחץ, to smite or dash in pieces; חלף, to pierce or bore through. The heaping up of the words in Jdg 5:27 answers the same purpose. They do not "express…”