Judges 3
1 At that time there were still many people-groups in Canaan. Yahweh left them there to test the Israeli people. But many of the Israelis in Canaan were ones who had not fought in any of the wars in Canaan. So Yahweh also left those people-groups in Canaan so that the descendants of those who had not fought in any of the wars might learn how to fight.
And these are the nations that Jehovah left, to prove Israel by them, all that had not known all the wars of Canaan;
only that the generations of the children of Israel might know war by learning it, at the least those who before had known nothing thereof:
3 [This is a list of] the people-groups that Yahweh left there: The Philistines and their five leaders, the people living in the area near Sidon [city], the descendants of Canaan, and the descendants of Hiv who were living in the mountains of Lebanon between Baal-Hermon Mountain and Lebo-Hamath.
five lord ships of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwell on mount Lebanon; from mount Baal-Hermon unto the entering into Hamath.
4 Yahweh left these people-groups there to test the Israelis, to see if they would obey his commands which he had told Moses to give them.
And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of Jehovah, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5 The Israelis lived among the Canaan people-group, the Hiv people-group, the Amor people-group, the Periz people-group, the Hiv people-group, and the Jebus people-group.
And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites: Hittites and Amorites and Perizzites and Hivites and Jebusites;
6 [Moses had told the people not to associate with any of those people]. But the Israelis took daughters of people from those people-groups [to be their own wives], and gave their own daughters to men of those groups, to marry them. And [as a result] they started to worship the gods of those people-groups.
and they took their daughters as wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7 The Israelis did things that Yahweh said were very evil. They forgot about Yahweh, their God, and they started to worship [the idols that represented] the god Baal and the goddess Asherah.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and forgot Jehovah their God, and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
8 Yahweh became very angry with the Israelis. So he allowed king Cushan from Mesopotamia to conquer them and rule them for eight years.
And the anger of Jehovah was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years.
9 But when they pleaded to Yahweh [to help them], he gave them a leader to rescue them. He was Othniel, the son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz.
And the children of Israel cried to Jehovah; and Jehovah raised up a saviour to the children of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
10 Yahweh’s Spirit came upon him, and he became their leader. He [led an army that] fought against [the army of] Cushan, and defeated them.
And the Spirit of Jehovah was upon him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and Jehovah gave Chushan-rishathaim king of Syria into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim.
11 After that, there was peace in the land for 40 years, until Othniel died.
And the land had rest forty years; and Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
12 After that, the Israelis again did things that Yahweh said were very evil. As a result, he allowed the army of King Eglon, who ruled [the] Moab [area], to defeat the Israelis.
And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of Jehovah; and Jehovah strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they did evil in the sight of Jehovah.
13 Eglon persuaded the leaders of the Ammon and Amalek people-groups to join their armies with his army to attack Israel. They captured [Jericho, which was called] ‘The City of Palm Trees’.
And he gathered to him the children of Ammon and Amalek and went and smote Israel, and they took possession of the city of palm-trees.
14 Then King Eglon ruled the Israelis for eighteen years.
And the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
15 But then the Israelis again pleaded to Yahweh [to help them]. So he gave them another leader to rescue them. He was Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera, from the descendants of Benjamin. The Israelis sent him to King Eglon to give him their yearly protection money.
And the children of Israel cried to Jehovah, and Jehovah raised them up a saviour, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a man left-handed. And by him the children of Israel sent a gift to Eglon king of Moab.
16 Ehud had with him a double-edged dagger, about a foot and a half long. He strapped it to his right thigh, under his clothes.
And Ehud made him a sword having two edges, it was of a cubit length; and he girded it under his raiment upon his right hip.
17 He gave the money to King Eglon, who was a very fat man.
And he brought the gift to Eglon king of Moab; now Eglon was a very fat man.
18 Then Ehud started to go back home with the men who had carried the money.
And it came to pass when he had ended offering the gift, he sent away the people that had borne the gift.
19 When they arrived at the stone carvings near Gilgal, [he told the other men to go on, but] he himself turned around and went back [to the king of Moab. When he arrived at the palace], he said to the king, “Your majesty, I have a secret message for you.” So the king told all his servants to be quiet, and sent them out of the room.
But he turned from the graven images that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret word unto thee, O king. And he said, Be silent! And all that stood by him went out from him.
20 Then, as Eglon was sitting alone in the upstairs room of his summer palace, Ehud came close to him and said, “I have a message for you from God.” As the king got up from his chair,
And Ehud came to him; now he was sitting in the cool upper-chamber, which was for him alone. And Ehud said, I have a word from God unto thee. And he arose from the seat.
21 Ehud reached with his left hand and pulled the dagger from his right thigh, and plunged it into the king’s belly.
Then Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right hip, and thrust it into his belly;
22 He thrust it in so far that the handle went into the king’s belly, and the blade came out the king’s back. Ehud did not pull the dagger out. [He left it there, with] the handle buried in the king’s fat.
and the haft also went in after the blade, and the fat closed upon the blade; for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, and it came out between the legs.
23 Then Ehud left the room. He went out to the porch. He shut the doors to the room and locked them.
And Ehud went out into the portico, and shut the doors of the upper-chamber upon him, and bolted them.
24 After he had gone, King Eglon’s servants came back, but they saw that the doors of the room were locked. They said, “The king must be defecating in the inner room.”
And when he was gone out, the servants of the [king] came and saw, and behold, the doors of the upper-chamber were bolted. And they said, Surely he is covering his feet in the summer chamber.
25 So they waited, but when the king did not open the doors of the room, after a while they were worried. They got a key and unlocked the doors. And they saw that their king was lying on the floor, dead.
And they waited till they were ashamed; and behold, he opened not the doors of the upper-chamber, and they took the key, and opened [them], and behold, their lord lay dead on the earth.
26 Meanwhile, Ehud escaped. He passed by the stone carvings and arrived at Seirah, in the hilly area where the descendants of Ephraim lived.
And Ehud had escaped while they lingered, and passed beyond the graven images, and escaped to Seirah.
27 There he blew a trumpet [to signal that the people should join him to fight the people of Moab]. So the Israelis went with him from the hills. They went down [toward the Jordan river], with Ehud leading them.
And it came to pass when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he before them.
28 He said to the men, “Yahweh is going to allow us to defeat your enemies, the people of Moab. So follow me!” So they followed him down to the river, and they stationed some of their men at the place where people can walk across the river, in order that they could [kill any people from Moab who tried to] cross the river [to escape].
And he said to them, Follow after me, for Jehovah has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan toward Moab, and suffered no one to pass over.
29 At that time, the Israelis killed about 10,000 people from Moab. They were all strong and capable men, but not one of them escaped.
And they slew the Moabites at that time, about ten thousand men, all fat, and all men of valour, and not a man escaped.
30 On that day, the Israelis conquered the people of Moab. Then there was peace in their land for 80 years.
And Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years.
31 After Ehud [died], Shamgar became their leader. He rescued the Israelis [from the Philistines. In one battle] he killed 600 Philistines with an (ox goad/sharp wooden pole).
And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath; and he smote the Philistines, six hundred men, with an ox-goad. And he also delivered Israel.
