Judges 3

¹Now these are the nations which Jehovah left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;

²only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as beforetime knew nothing thereof:

³namely, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entrance of Hamath.

⁴And they were left, to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.

⁵And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites:

⁶and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.

⁷And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and forgat Jehovah their God, and served the Baalim and the Asheroth.

⁸Therefore the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.

⁹And when the children of Israel cried unto Jehovah, Jehovah raised up a saviour to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

¹⁰And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and Jehovah delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand: and his hand prevailed against Cushan-rishathaim.

¹¹And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

¹²And the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah: and Jehovah strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah.

¹³And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and smote Israel, and they possessed the city of palm-trees.

¹⁴And the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵But when the children of Israel cried unto Jehovah, Jehovah raised them up a saviour, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a man left-handed. And the children of Israel sent tribute by him unto Eglon the king of Moab.

¹⁶And Ehud made him a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he girded it under his raiment upon his right thigh.

¹⁷And he offered the tribute unto Eglon king of Moab: now Eglon was a very fat man.

¹⁸And when he had made an end of offering the tribute, he sent away the people that bare the tribute.

¹⁹But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king. And he said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.

²⁰And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.

²¹And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body:

²²and the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, for he drew not the sword out of his body; and it came out behind.

²³Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room upon him, and locked them.

²⁴Now 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.

²⁵And they tarried till they were ashamed; and, behold, he opened not the doors of the upper room: therefore they took the key, and opened them; and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.

²⁶And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirah.

²⁷And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he before them.

²⁸And he said unto them, Follow after me; for Jehovah hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and suffered not a man to pass over.

²⁹And they smote of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, every lusty man, and every man of valor; and there escaped not a man.

³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.

³¹And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who smote of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad: and he also saved Israel.

Judges 3

¹These are the nations that the LORD left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan,

²if only to teach warfare to the subsequent generations of Israel, especially to those who had not known it formerly:

³the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.

⁴These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out whether they would keep the commandments of the LORD, which He had given their fathers through Moses.

⁵Thus the Israelites continued to live among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

⁶And they took the daughters of these people in marriage, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

⁷So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.

⁸Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years.

⁹But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, He raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz as a deliverer to save them.

¹⁰The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge and went out to war. And the LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into the hand of Othniel, who prevailed against him.

¹¹So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

¹²Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹³After enlisting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join forces with him, Eglon attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms.

¹⁴The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

¹⁶Now Ehud had made for himself a double-edged sword a cubit long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his cloak

¹⁷and brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was an obese man.

¹⁸After Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he ushered out those who had carried it.

¹⁹But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” “Silence,” said the king, and all his attendants left him.

²⁰Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the coolness of his upper room. “I have a word from God for you,” Ehud said, and the king rose from his seat.

²¹And Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly.

²²Even the handle sank in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And Eglon’s bowels emptied.

²³Then Ehud went out through the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upper room behind him.

²⁴After Ehud was gone, Eglon’s servants came in and found the doors of the upper room locked. “He must be relieving himself in the cool room,” they said.

²⁵So they waited until they became worried and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upper room. Then they took the key and opened the doors—and there was their lord lying dead on the floor.

²⁶Ehud, however, had escaped while the servants waited. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah.

²⁷On arriving in Seirah, he blew the ram’s horn throughout the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites came down with him from the hills, and he became their leader.

²⁸“Follow me,” he told them, “for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over.

²⁹At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men. Not one of them escaped.

³⁰So Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had rest for eighty years.

³¹After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.