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 which the Lord left to prove Israel with them, all that had not known the wars of Chanaan.
Only for the sake of the generations of Israel, to teach them war, only the men before them knew them not.
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.
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 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 [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 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 lived in the midst of the Chananite, and the Chettite, and the Amorite, and the Pherezite, and the Evite, and the Jebusite.
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 for wives to themselves, and they 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 the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
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 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 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 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 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 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 After that, there was peace in the land for 40 years, until Othniel died.
And the land was quiet forty years; and Gothoniel the son of Kenez 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 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 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 himself all the children of Ammon and Amalec, and went and struck Israel, and took possession of the city of Palm-trees.
14 Then King Eglon ruled the Israelis for eighteen years.
And the children of Israel served Eglom 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 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 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 Aod made himself a dagger of two edges, of a span long, and he girded it under his cloak upon his right thigh.
17 He gave the money to King Eglon, who was a very fat man.
And he went, and brought the presents to Eglom king of Moab, and Eglom [was] a very handsome man.
18 Then Ehud started to go back home with the men who had carried the money.
And it came to pass when [Aod] had made an end of offering his gifts, that he dismissed those that brought the gifts.
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.
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 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 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 Ehud reached with his left hand and pulled the dagger from his right thigh, and plunged it into the king’s belly.
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 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 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 left the room. He went out to the porch. He shut the doors to the room and locked them.
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 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 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 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, 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 Meanwhile, Ehud escaped. He passed by the stone carvings and arrived at Seirah, in the hilly area where the descendants of Ephraim lived.
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 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 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 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, 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 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 struck Moab on that day about ten thousand men, every [lusty] person and every mighty man; 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.
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 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 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.
