Judges 3

1 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 Canaanites,

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

2 so that afterward their sons might learn to contend with their enemies, and to have a willingness to do battle:

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

3 the 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 Hamath.

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.

4 And 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 Moses.

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.

5 And 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 Jebusite.

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.

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

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

7 And they did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they forgot their God, while serving the Baals and Ashtaroth.

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.

8 And 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 years.

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.

9 And 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 Caleb.

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

10 And 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 him.

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.

11 And the land was quiet for forty years. And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died.

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

12 Then 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 sight.

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.

13 And 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 Palms.

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.

14 And the sons of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, for eighteen years.

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

15 And 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 him.

And the children of Israel cried to the Lord; and he raised up to them a savior, 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.

16 And 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 thigh.

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

17 And he offered the gifts to Eglon, the king of Moab. Now Eglon was exceedingly fat.

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

18 And when he had presented the gifts to him, he followed out his companions, who had arrived with him.

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

19 And 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 departed,

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.

20 Ehud 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 throne.

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.

21 And Ehud extended his left hand, and he took the dagger from his right thigh. And he thrust it into his abdomen

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;

22 so 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 out.

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.

23 Then Ehud carefully closed the doors of the upper room. And securing the bars,

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].

24 he 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 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?

25 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 ground.

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.

26 But Ehud, while they were in confusion, escaped and passed by the place of the idols, from which he had returned. And he arrived at Seirath.

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.

27 And immediately he sounded the trumpet on Mount Ephraim. And the sons of Israel descended with him, he himself advancing at the front.

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.

28 And 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 cross.

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.

29 And so, they struck down the Moabites at that time, about ten thousand, all strong and robust men. None of them were able to escape.

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

30 And Moab was humbled in that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was quiet for eighty years.

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.

31 After 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.

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