Judges 3
The Lord left various nations in the land to test Israel's obedience to his commandments, but the Israelites intermarried with them and served their gods, leading to God's anger and their subjugation to Cushan-Rishathaim for eight years. The Lord then raised up Othniel to deliver Israel, and the land was quiet for 40 years. After Othniel's death, the Israelites again did evil, and God strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against them, but the Lord raised up Ehud to deliver Israel by assassinating Eglon. Ehud then led the Israelites to defeat the Moabites, and the land was quiet for 80 years.
These are the nations which the Lord left, so that by them he might instruct Israel and all who had not known the wars of the Canaanitesso that afterward their sons might learn to contend with their enemies, and to have a willingness to do battlethe five princes of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who were living on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-Hermon as far as the entrance to HamathAnd he left them, so that by them he might test Israel, as to whether or not they would listen to the commandments of the Lord, which he instructed to their fathers by the hand of MosesAnd so, the sons of Israel lived in the midst of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the JebusiteAnd they took their daughters as wives, and they gave their own daughters to their sons, and they served their godsAnd they did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they forgot their God, while serving the Baals and AshtarothAnd the Lord, having become angry with Israel, delivered them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim, the king of Mesopotamia, and they served him for eight yearsAnd they cried out to the Lord, who raised up for them a savior, and he freed them, namely, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, a younger brother of CalebAnd the Spirit of the Lord was in him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to fight, and the Lord delivered Cushan-Rishathaim, the king of Syria, and he overwhelmed himAnd the land was quiet for forty years. And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, diedThen the sons of Israel resumed doing evil in the sight of the Lord, who strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against them because they did evil in his sightAnd he joined to him the sons of Ammon and the sons of Amalek. And he went forth and struck Israel, and he possessed the City of PalmsAnd the sons of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, for eighteen yearsAnd afterward, they cried out to the Lord, who raised up for them a savior, called Ehud, the son of Gera, the son of Benjamin, who used either hand as well as the right hand. And the sons of Israel sent gifts to Eglon, the king of Moab, by himAnd he made for himself a two-edged sword, having a handle, reaching to the middle, the length of the palm of a hand. And he was girded with it under his cloak, on the right thighAnd he offered the gifts to Eglon, the king of Moab. Now Eglon was exceedingly fatAnd when he had presented the gifts to him, he followed out his companions, who had arrived with himAnd then, returning from Gilgal where the idols were, he said to the king, "I have a secret word for you, O king." And he ordered silence. And when all those who were around him had departedEhud entered to him. Now he was sitting alone in a summer upper room. And he said, "I have a word from God to you." And immediately he rose up from his throneAnd Ehud extended his left hand, and he took the dagger from his right thigh. And he thrust it into his abdomeso strongly that the handle followed the blade into the wound, and was enclosed by the great amount of fat. Neither did he withdraw the sword. Instead, he left it in the body just as he had struck with it. And immediately, by the private parts of nature, the filth of the bowels went outThen Ehud carefully closed the doors of the upper room. And securing the barshe 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.And after waiting a long time, until they were embarrassed, and seeing that no one opened the door, they took the key, and opening it, they found their lord lying dead on the groundBut Ehud, while they were in confusion, escaped and passed by the place of the idols, from which he had returned. And he arrived at SeirathAnd immediately he sounded the trumpet on Mount Ephraim. And the sons of Israel descended with him, he himself advancing at the frontAnd he said to them: "Follow me. For the Lord has delivered our enemies, the Moabites, into our hands." And they descended after him, and they occupied the fords of the Jordan, which cross over to Moab. And they did not permit anyone to crossAnd so, they struck down the Moabites at that time, about ten thousand, all strong and robust men. None of them were able to escapeAnd Moab was humbled in that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was quiet for eighty yearsAfter him, there was Shamgar, the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred men of the Philistines with a plowshare. And he also defended Israel
Share this chapter