Judges 3

1 Now these are the nations which the Lord kept in the land for the purpose of testing Israel by them, all those who had had no experience of all the wars of Canaan;

The following are the nations the Lord left and used to test all those Israelites who had not known what it was like to be part of any of the wars in Canaan.

2 Only because of the generations of the children of Israel, for the purpose of teaching them war — only those who up till then had no experience of it;

(He did so to teach warfare to the later generations of Israel, particularly to those who had not previously experienced it.)

3 The five chiefs of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites and the Zidonians and the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from the mountain Baal-hermon as far as Hamath:

They are: the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.

4 For the purpose of testing Israel by them, to see if they would give ear to the orders of the Lord, which he had given to their fathers by the hand of Moses.

They were left there be to a test for the Israelites, to find out whether the Israelites would keep the Lord's commandments which he had given their forefathers through Moses.

5 Now the children of Israel were living among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites:

They lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

6 And they took as wives the daughters of these nations and gave their daughters to their sons, and became servants to their gods.

The Israelites intermarried with them, marrying their daughters, giving their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.

7 And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and put out of their minds the Lord their God, and became servants to the Baals and the Astartes.

The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight. They ignored the Lord their God and worshiped the images of Baals and Asherahs.

8 So the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel were his servants for eight years.

The Lord became angry with Israel, so he sold them to Cushan-Rishathaim, king of Aram Naharaim. The Israelites were subject to Cushan-Rishathaim for eight years.

9 And when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord to help them, he provided someone to rescue them, Othniel, son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, and he saved them.

10 And the spirit of the Lord came on him and he became judge of Israel, and went out to war, and the Lord gave up Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hands and he overcame him.

The Spirit of the Lord came on him, and he became Israel's judge. He went to war with Cushan-Rishathaim, king of Aram, and the Lord handed the king over to Othniel, who was victorious.

11 Then for forty years the land had peace, till the death of Othniel, the son of Kenaz.

As a result, the country was a peace for forty years until Othniel, son of Kenaz, died.

12 Then the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord made Eglon, king of Moab, strong against Israel, because they had done evil in the Lord's eyes.

But once again the Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight, and because they did this the Lord gave power to Eglon, king of Moab, to conquer Israel.

13 And Eglon got together the people of Ammon and Amalek, and they went and overcame Israel and took the town of palm-trees.

Eglon had the Ammonites and the Amalekite join him, and then attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms.

14 And the children of Israel were servants to Eglon, king of Moab, for eighteen years.

The Israelites were subject to Eglon, king of Moab, for eighteen years.

15 Then when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man; and the children of Israel sent an offering by him to Eglon, king of Moab.

Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord to help them, and he provided someone to rescue them, Ehud, son of Gera the Benjamite, a left-handed man. The Israelites sent him to pay the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab.

16 So Ehud made himself a two-edged sword, a cubit long, which he put on at his right side under his robe.

Ehud had made for himself a cubit long double-edged sword, and he strapped it to his right thigh under his clothes.

17 And he took the offering to Eglon, king of Moab, who was a very fat man.

He came and presented the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab, who was a very fat man.

18 And after giving the offering, he sent away the people who had come with the offering.

Then after delivering the tribute he sent home those who had helped carry it.

19 But he himself, turning back from the stone images at Gilgal, said, I have something to say to you in secret, O king. And he said, Let there be quiet. Then all those who were waiting before him went out.

But when he reached the stone idols near Gilgal, he turned back. He went to see Eglon, and told him, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.” The king told his attendants, “Silence!” and they all left.

20 Then Ehud came in to him while he was seated by himself in his summer-house. And Ehud said, I have a word from God for you. And he got up from his seat.

Ehud then went over to where Eglon was sitting alone in his cool upstairs room, and told him, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king got up from his seat,

21 And Ehud put out his left hand, and took the sword from his right side, and sent it into his stomach;

Ehud grabbed his sword with his left hand from his right thigh and drove it into Eglon's belly.

22 And the hand-part went in after the blade, and the fat was joined up over the blade; for he did not take the sword out of his stomach. And he went out into the ...

The handle went in with the blade and the fat closed over it. So Ehud didn't pull the sword out, and the king defecated.

23 Then Ehud went out into the covered way, shutting the doors of the summer-house on him and locking them.

Then Ehud closed and locked the doors, and escaped through the toilet.

24 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.

After he had left, the servants came and saw that the doors of the room were locked. “He must be using the toilet,” they concluded.

25 And they went on waiting till they were shamed, but the doors were still shut; so they took the key, and, opening them, saw their lord stretched out dead on the floor.

So they waited until they couldn't stand it any more, and since he still hadn't opened the doors of the room, they went and found the key and opened the doors. There was their lord, lying dead on the floor.

26 But Ehud had got away while they were waiting and had gone past the stone images and got away to Seirah.

While the servants delayed acting, Ehud escaped, passing the stone idols and on to Seirah.

27 And when he came there, he had a horn sounded in the hill-country of Ephraim, and all the children of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he at their head.

When he got there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites joined him. They went down from the hills, with Ehud leading them.

28 And he said to them, Come after me; for the Lord has given the Moabites, your haters, into your hands. So they went down after him and took the crossing-places of Jordan against Moab, and let no one go across.

He told them, “Follow me, for the Lord has handed Moab, your enemy, over to you.” So they followed him down and took control of the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab. They didn't let anyone cross.

29 At that time they put about ten thousand men of Moab to the sword, every strong man and every man of war; not a man got away.

Then they attacked the Moabites and killed around 10,000 of their best and strongest fighting men. Not a single one escaped.

30 So Moab was broken that day under the hand of Israel. And for eighty years the land had peace.

Moab was conquered that day and made subject to Israel, and the country was at peace for eighty years.

31 And after him came Shamgar, the son of Anath, who put to death six hundred Philistines with an ox-stick; and he was another saviour of Israel.

After Ehud was Shamgar, son of Anath, who killed six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He also rescued Israel.