Judges 3

1 And these [are] the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel with them, all that had not known the wars of Chanaan.

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;

2 Only for the sake of the generations of Israel, to teach them war, only the men before them knew them not.

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;

3 The five lordships of the Phylistines, and every Chananite, and the Sidonian, and the Evite who lived in Libanus from the mount of Aermon to Laboemath.

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:

4 And [this] was done in order to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commands of the Lord, which he charged their fathers by the hand of Moses.

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.

5 And the children of Israel lived in the midst of the Chananite, and the Chettite, and the Amorite, and the Pherezite, and the Evite, and the Jebusite.

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

6 And they took their daughters for wives to themselves, and they gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

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

7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves.

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.

8 And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and sold them into the hand of Chusarsathaim king of Syria of the rivers: and the children of Israel served Chusarsathaim eight years.

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.

9 And the children of Israel cried to the Lord; and the Lord raised up a saviour to Israel, and he saved them, Gothoniel the son of Kenez, the brother of Chaleb younger than himself.

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.

10 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war against Chusarsathaim: and the Lord delivered into his hand Chusarsathaim king of Syria of the rivers, and his hand prevailed against Chusarsathaim.

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.

11 And the land was quiet forty years; and Gothoniel the son of Kenez died.

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

12 And the children of Israel continued to do evil before the Lord: and the Lord strengthened Eglom king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil before the Lord.

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.

13 And he gathered to himself all the children of Ammon and Amalec, and went and struck Israel, and took possession of the city of Palm-trees.

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

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

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

15 And the children of Israel cried to the Lord; and he raised up to them a saviour, Aod the son of Gera a son of Jemeni, a man who used both hands alike: and the children of Israel sent gifts by his hand to Eglom king of Moab.

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.

16 And Aod made himself a dagger of two edges, of a span long, and he girded it under his cloak upon his right thigh.

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

17 And he went, and brought the presents to Eglom king of Moab, and Eglom [was] a very handsome man.

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

18 And it came to pass when [Aod] had made an end of offering his gifts, that he dismissed those that brought the gifts.

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

19 And he himself returned from the quarries that are by Galgal; and Aod said, I have a secret errand to you, O king! and Eglom said to him, Be silent: and he sent away from his presence all who waited upon him.

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.

20 And Aod went in to him; and he sat in his own upper summer chamber quite alone; and Aod said, I have a message from God to you, O king: and Eglom rose up from his throne near him.

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.

21 And it came to pass as he arose, that Aod stretched forth his left hand, and took the dagger off his right thigh, and plunged it into his belly;

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

22 and drove in also the haft after the blade, and the fat closed in upon the blade, for he drew not out the dagger from his belly.

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 ...

23 And Aod went out to the porch, and passed out by the appointed [guards], and shut the doors of the chamber upon him, and locked [them].

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

24 And he went out: and Eglom's servants came, and saw, and behold, the doors of the upper chamber [were] locked; and they said, Does he not uncover his feet in the summer-chamber?

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.

25 And they waited till they were ashamed, and, behold, there was no one that opened the doors of the upper chamber; and they took the key, and opened them; and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead upon the earth.

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.

26 And Aod escaped while they were in a tumult, and no one paid attention to him; and he passed the quarries, and escaped to Setirotha.

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

27 And it came to pass when Aod came into the land of Israel, that he blew the horn in mount Ephraim, and the children of Israel came down with him from the mountain, and he [was] before them.

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.

28 And he said to them, Come down after me, for the Lord God has delivered our enemies, even Moab, into our hand; and they went down after him, and seized on the fords of Jordan before Moab, and he did not suffer a man to pass over.

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.

29 And they struck Moab on that day about ten thousand men, every [lusty] person and every mighty man; and not a man escaped.

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.

30 So Moab was humbled in that day under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest eighty years; and Aod judged them till he died.

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

31 And after him rose up Samegar the son of Dinach, and struck the Philistines to the number of six hundred men with a ploughshare [such as is drawn by] oxen; and he too delivered Israel.

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.