The Hebrew nitsba means the haft or handle of a sword or dagger — the grip that allows the weapon to be wielded. The only occurrence is in Judges 3:22, describing Ehud's assassination of Eglon.
The story of Ehud and the sword in Judges 3 is one of the Bible's most visceral liberation narratives. The detail that the nitsba (handle) was swallowed up along with the blade into Eglon's flesh is not gratuitous — it underscores the totality of God's judgment on an oppressor. The narrator uses physical, almost gross, precision to make a theological point: deliverance was thorough and complete. Judges consistently depicts God working through the unexpected and the unheroic: a left-handed man, a tent peg, a jawbone. The nitsba — that grip on the weapon — reminds us that God's servants must have a firm grip on their calling, using even ordinary means for extraordinary divine purposes.