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 YHWH left, to try Israel by them, all who have not known all the wars of Canaan;
(only for the sake of the generations of the sons of Israel knowing, to teach them war, only those who formerly have not known them)—
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 princes of the Philistines, and all the Canaanite, and the Zidonian, and the Hivite inhabiting Mount Lebanon, from Mount Ba‘al-Hermon to the entering in of 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 are to prove Israel by them, to know whether they obey the commands of YHWH that 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 sons of Israel have dwelt in the midst of the Canaanite, the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, 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 take their daughters to them for wives, and have given their daughters to their sons, and they serve 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 sons of Israel do evil in the eyes of YHWH, and forget their God YHWH, and serve the Ba‘alim and the Asheroth.
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 YHWH burns against Israel, and He sells them into the hand of Chushan-Rishathaim king of Aram-Naharaim, and the sons of Israel serve 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 sons of Israel cry to YHWH, and YHWH raises a savior to the sons of Israel, and he saves them—Othniel 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 YHWH is on him, and he judges Israel, and goes out to battle, and YHWH gives Chushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into his hand, and his hand is strong against Chushan-Rishathaim;
11 After that, there was peace in the land for 40 years, until Othniel died.
and the land rests forty years. And Othniel son of Kenaz dies,
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 sons of Israel add to do evil in the eyes of YHWH; and YHWH strengthens Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because that they have done evil in the eyes of YHWH;
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 gathers the sons of Ammon and Amalek to himself, and goes and strikes Israel, and they possess the city of palms;
14 Then King Eglon ruled the Israelis for eighteen years.
and the sons of Israel serve Eglon 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 sons of Israel cry to YHWH, and YHWH raises a savior to them, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjamite (a man [with] his right hand bound), and the sons of Israel send a present by his hand 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 makes a sword for himself, and it has two mouths (its length [is] a cubit), and he girds it under his long robe on his right thigh;
17 He gave the money to King Eglon, who was a very fat man.
and he brings the present near to Eglon king of Moab, and Eglon [is] a very fat man.
18 Then Ehud started to go back home with the men who had carried the money.
And it comes to pass, when he has finished to bring the present near, that he sends the people carrying the present away,
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 has turned back from the carved images which [are] at Gilgal and says, “I have a secret word for you, O king”; and he says, “Hush!” And all those standing by him go 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 has come to him, and he is sitting in the cool upper chamber which he has for himself, and Ehud says, “I have a word of God for you”; and he rises from off the throne;
21 Ehud reached with his left hand and pulled the dagger from his right thigh, and plunged it into the king’s belly.
and Ehud puts forth his left hand, and takes the sword from off his right thigh, and thrusts 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 hilt also goes in after the blade, and the fat shuts on the blade, that he has not drawn the sword out of his belly, and he goes out [through] the antechamber [[or and the dung came out]].
23 Then Ehud left the room. He went out to the porch. He shut the doors to the room and locked them.
And Ehud goes out at the porch, and shuts the doors of the upper chamber on him, and has bolted [it];
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 has gone out, and his servants have come in, and look, and behold, the doors of the upper chamber are bolted, and they say, “He is surely covering his feet, [relieving himself, ] in the cool inner 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 stay until confounded, and behold, he is not opening the doors of the upper chamber, and they take the key, and open, and behold, their lord is fallen to the earth—dead.
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 escaped during their lingering, and has passed by the images, and escapes to Seirath.
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 comes to pass, in his coming in, that he blows with a horn in the hill-country of Ephraim, and the sons of Israel go 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 says to them, “Pursue after me, for YHWH has given your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand”; and they go down after him, and capture the passages of the Jordan toward Moab, and have not permitted 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 strike Moab at that time, about ten thousand men, all robust, and everyone a man of valor, and no man has escaped,
30 On that day, the Israelis conquered the people of Moab. Then there was peace in their land for 80 years.
and Moab is humbled in that day under the hand of Israel; and the land rests [for] 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 has been Shamgar son of Anath, and he strikes the Philistines—six hundred men—with an ox-goad, and he also saves Israel.
