This material leads up to a second climactic moment in this story when the servants discover their master dead on the floor. Since there are new participants on the scene, many versions begin a new paragraph here. Revised Standard Version has rendered this verse in flowing English, but the Hebrew has a different flavor as the action is slowed down before a story climax. It reads literally “And he [Ehud], he went out, and his [the king’s] servants came and they looked, and behold, the doors of the roof chamber [were] locked, and they said….”
When he had gone: This clause refers to the departure of Ehud. The Hebrew is emphatic here, saying “And he, he went out.” The Hebrew verb rendered had gone is not the common verb for “go,” but rather the verb for “go out,” which has been part of an ongoing wordplay (verse 3.22, 23). However, in most languages had gone will be more understandable. Revised Standard Version uses a past anterior verb tense to express this background material. Other possibilities are “Ehud, having left” and “After Ehud had escaped.”
The servants came is literally “and his servants came.” Depending on how the previous clause is formulated, many versions will omit the Hebrew waw conjunction (“and”) here. The pronoun “his” refers to King Eglon. These servants do not seem to be the king’s officials, as was the case in verse 3.19, but regular servants. This clause and the previous one may be rendered “After Ehud had escaped, the king’s servants arrived.”
And when they saw: This clause is independent in Hebrew, literally “and they looked.” Some languages will say “and they found” or “and they discovered.” The pronoun they refers to the king’s servants.
That the doors of the roof chamber were locked describes what the servants found. However, Revised Standard Version has omitted a very important Hebrew word here, the attention-getter, hinneh, which is often rendered elsewhere as “behold” (see comments at verse 1.2). This clause reads literally “and behold, the doors of the roof chamber [were] locked.” Hinneh, typically followed by a participle, often marks the climax in a story. Here this marker also seems to express the servants’ surprise or consternation at finding the doors locked. Translators can consider how high points are marked in their own narrations. Some languages may use expressions such as “Look!” or “You see!” We might also combine clauses to say “They looked, and to their great surprise, the doors to the upper room were locked!” In some languages an exclamation point will help convey the emotion here.
For doors, roof chamber, and locked, see verse 3.23.
The first half of this verse may be rendered:
• After Ehud escaped, the king’s servants arrived, and they found—lo and behold—the doors to the upper room were locked!
• When Ehud had gone, the servants of the king came and looked, and to their great surprise/consternation, the doors to the room were locked!
They thought is literally “and they said.” The Hebrew waw conjunction (“and”) omitted by Revised Standard Version could be rendered “So.” Many languages follow the Hebrew in using the verb “say” to express internal thoughts. We might say “They said to themselves.” It is also acceptable to use indirect speech here, for example, “They assumed that…” or “They thought that….”
He is only relieving himself is an English euphemism meaning to go to the toilet. It renders the equivalent Hebrew euphemism, which is literally “Indeed he [is] covering his feet.” See also verse 1 Sam 24.3, where the same idiomatic expression is used. Finding the doors closed, the servants are making an assumption, so the translator could say “He must be relieving himself.” There is obvious humor here, as the king of this important country is described as going to the bathroom. To preserve the flavor of the story, translators should look for euphemistic expressions to convey taking care of bodily needs, such as “easing oneself” and “going to the fields.”
In the closet of the cool chamber: The English word closet or “water closet” once referred to the toilet, but today closet refers rather to a small room where clothes or other items are kept. Translators should look for an appropriate word for “toilet” or “bathroom,” using a word that could be used to refer to a room high up in the house. If this is difficult, it is possible to translate in the closet simply as “inside.” For cool chamber, see the comments on “cool roof chamber” at verse 3.20. The Hebrew word used here is an abbreviated form of the phrase used there.
Translation examples for this verse are:
• Ehud escaped from that place and the king’s servants returned. To their surprise, they found the doors locked, so they assumed the king was inside going to the bathroom.
• After Ehud had gone, the king’s servants came and were surprised to find that the doors of the room on the roof were locked. They said to themselves, “Oh, the king must be in the upper room relieving himself.”
Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .