When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber.

Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and, behold, the doors of the upper room were locked; and they said, Surely he is covering his feet in the upper chamber.

Went out by a postern door. And the king's servants going in, saw the doors of the parlour shut, and they said: Perhaps he is easing nature in his summer parlour.

When he had gone, the servants came; and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, |He is only relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.|

When he had gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlor were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer-chamber.

and he hath gone out, and his servants have come in, and look, and lo, the doors of the upper chamber are bolted, and they say, 'He is only covering his feet in the inner chamber of the wall.'

When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlor were locked, they said, Surely he covers his feet in his summer chamber.

Now when he had gone, the king's servants came, and saw that the doors of the summer-house were locked; and they said, It may be that he is in his summer-house for a private purpose.

Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and, behold, the doors of the upper chamber were locked; and they, said: 'Surely he is covering his feet in the cabinet of the cool chamber.'

he departed by a back exit. And the servants of the king, entering, saw that the doors of the upper room were closed, and they said, "Perhaps he is emptying his bowels in the summer room."

He covereth his feet - Compare the marginal references. The explanation of the phrase as "taking sleep" suits both passages best.

He covereth his feet - He has lain down on his sofa in order to sleep; when this was done they dropped their slippers, lifted up their feet, and covered them with their long loose garments. But the versions, in general, seem to understand it as implying a certain natural act.

When he was gone out, his servants came,.... When Ehud was gone through the porch, and out of the palace, the servants of Eglon, who had been put out, came to the parlour door to reassume their former place, and finish their business with the king, or in order to wait upon him as usual:
and when they saw that behold the doors of the parlour were locked; which they supposed were done by the king himself with inside, having no suspicion of Ehud:
they said, surely, or "perhaps", as Noldius (f) renders it:
he covereth his feet in his summer chamber; that is, was easing nature; and, as the eastern people wore long and loose garments, when they sat down on such an occasion, their feet were covered with them; or they purposely gathered them about their feet to cover them, and so this became a modest expression for this work of nature, see 1-Samuel 24:3; though some think that in that place, and also in this, is meant lying down to sleep; and that Eglon's servants supposed that he had laid himself down on his couch in his summer chamber to take sleep, when it was usual to cover the feet with long garments, to hide those parts of nature which otherwise might be exposed; and it must be owned that this seems more agreeable to a summer parlour than the former, and better accounts for the servants waiting so long as they did; and Josephus (g) is express for it, that his servants thought he had fallen asleep. Indeed, the Jews in later times used the phrase in the first sense (h), which seems to be taken from hence.
(f) Ebr. Concord. part. p. 47. No. 237. (g) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 4. sect. 2.) (h) Misn. Yoma, c. 3. sect. 2.

When the servants of Eglon came (to enter in to their lord) after Ehud's departure and saw the door of the upper room bolted, they thought "surely (אך, lit. only, nothing but) he covers his feet" (a euphemism for performing the necessities of nature; cf. 1-Samuel 24:3), and waited to shaming (cf. 2 King Judges 2:17; Judges 8:11), i.e., till they were ashamed of their long waiting (see at Judges 5:28). At length they opened the door with the key, and found their lord lying dead upon the floor.
Ehud's conduct must be judged according to the spirit of those times, when it was thought allowable to adopt any means of destroying the enemy of one's nation. The treacherous assassination of a hostile king is not to be regarded as an act of the Spirit of God, and therefore is not set before us as an example to be imitated. Although Jehovah raised up Ehud as a deliverer to His people when oppressed by Eglon, it is not stated (and this ought particularly to be observed) that the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Ehud, and still less that Ehud assassinated the hostile king under the impulse of that Spirit. Ehud proved himself to have been raised up by the Lord as the deliverer of Israel, simply by the fact that he actually delivered his people from the bondage of the Moabites, and it by no means follows that the means which he selected were either commanded or approved by Jehovah.

Covereth his feet - This phrase is used only here, and 1-Samuel 24:3. A late judicious interpreter expounds it, of composing himself to take a little sleep, as was very usual to do in the day - time in those hot countries. And when they did so in cool places, such as this summer parlour unquestionably was, they used to cover their feet. And this may seem to be the more probable, both because the summer parlour was proper for this use, and because this was a more likely reason of their long waiting at his door, lest they should disturb his repose. And this sense best agrees with Saul's case in the cave, when being asleep, David could more securely cut off the lap of his garment.