Judges 3

¹Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had no experience of any war in Canaan; ²it was only that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, that he might teach war to such at least as had not known it before. ³These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidoʹnians, and the Hivites who dwelt on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baʹal-herʹmon as far as the entrance of Hamath. ⁴They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by Moses. ⁵So the people of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perʹizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebʹusites; ⁶and they took their daughters to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons; and they served their gods.

⁷And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, forgetting the Lord their God, and serving the Baʹals and the Asheʹroth. ⁸Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cuʹshan-rishathaʹim king of Mesopotaʹmia; and the people of Israel served Cuʹshan-rishathaʹim eight years. ⁹But when the people of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who delivered them, Othʹni-el the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. ¹⁰The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel; he went out to war, and the Lord gave Cuʹshan-rishathaʹim king of Mesopotaʹmia into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cuʹshan-rishathaʹim. ¹¹So the land had rest forty years. Then Othʹni-el the son of Kenaz died.

¹²And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalʹekites, and went and defeated Israel; and they took possession of the city of palms. ¹⁴And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵But when the people of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length; and he girded it on his right thigh under his clothes. ¹⁷And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people that carried the tribute. ¹⁹But he himself turned back at the sculptured stones near Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. ²⁰And Ehud came to him, as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. ²¹And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly; ²²and the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and the dirt came out. ²³Then Ehud went out into the vestibule, and closed the doors of the roof chamber upon him, and locked them.

²⁴When 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.” ²⁵And they waited till they were utterly at a loss; but when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them; and there lay their lord dead on the floor.

²⁶Ehud escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the sculptured stones, and escaped to Se-iʹrah. ²⁷When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Eʹphraim; and the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, having him at their head. ²⁸And he said to them, “Follow after me; for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him, and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and allowed not a man to pass over. ²⁹And they killed at that time about ten thousand of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped. ³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.

³¹After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred of the Philistines with an oxgoad; and he too delivered Israel.