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.
Awurade gyaa aman bi wɔ asase no so a na ɔnam so pɛ sɛ ɔsɔ Israelfoɔ a wɔnkɔɔ Kanaan ko no bi da hwɛ.
Ɔyɛɛ saa de kyerɛɛ Israel nkyirimma a wɔnkɔɔ ɔko da no sɛdeɛ wɔbɛnya akodie ho nimdeɛ.
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.
Saa aman no nie: Filistifoɔ (wɔn a na wɔhyɛ Filistifoɔ ahemfo baanum bi ase no), Kanaanfoɔ nyinaa, Sidonfoɔ, Hewifoɔ a na wɔte Lebanon bepɔ no so firi Baal Hermon bepɔ ho de kɔsi Lebo Hamat.
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.
Wɔgyaa saa nkurɔfoɔ yi de sɔɔ Israelfoɔ no hwɛeɛ, pɛɛ sɛ wɔhunu sɛ wɔbɛdi mmara a Awurade nam Mose so hyɛ maa wɔn agyanom no so anaa.
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.
Enti, Israelfoɔ no tenaa Kanaanfoɔ, Hetifoɔ, Amorifoɔ, Perisifoɔ, Hewifoɔ ne Yebusifoɔ no mu.
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.
Na wɔdii wɔn ho awadeɛ. Israelfoɔ mmammarima no warewaree wɔn mmammaa ɛnna wɔde Israelfoɔ mmammaa nso maa wɔn mmammarima awadeɛ. Na Israelfoɔ no somm wɔn anyame.
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.
Israelfoɔ no yɛɛ deɛ ɛyɛ Awurade ani so bɔne. Wɔn werɛ firii Awurade wɔn Onyankopɔn, na wɔsomm Baalim ahoni ne Asera afɔrebukyia.
8 Yahweh became very angry with the Israelis. So he allowed king Cushan from Mesopotamia to conquer them and rule them for eight years.
Awurade abufuo mu yɛɛ den tiaa Israel enti, ɔde wɔn hyɛɛ Aramhene Kusan-Risataim nsam. Na Israelfoɔ yɛɛ Kusan-Risataim nkoa mfirinhyia nwɔtwe.
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.
Nanso, Israelfoɔ su frɛɛ Awurade no, ɔyii ɔbarima bi sɛ ɔgyefoɔ maa wɔn. Ne din ne Otniel a ɔyɛ Kaleb nua kumaa Kenas babarima.
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.
Awurade honhom baa ne so, enti ɔbɛyɛɛ Israel ɔtemmufoɔ. Ɔko tiaa Aramhene Kusan-Risataim na Awurade maa Otniel dii ne so nkonim.
11 After that, there was peace in the land for 40 years, until Othniel died.
Enti, asomdwoeɛ baa asase no so mfirinhyia aduanan. Na Kenas babarima Otniel wuiɛ.
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.
Bio, Israelfoɔ no yɛɛ deɛ ɛyɛ Awurade ani so bɔne, na ɛno enti, Awurade de tumi hyɛɛ Moabhene Eglon nsa ma ɔdii Israel so.
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’.
Eglon boaboaa Amonfoɔ ne Amalekfoɔ ano ma wɔbɛkaa ne ho na wɔkɔto hyɛɛ Israelfoɔ so. Wɔdii wɔn so, faa kuropɔn Yeriko.
14 Then King Eglon ruled the Israelis for eighteen years.
Israelfoɔ no somm Moabhene Eglon mfirinhyia dunwɔtwe.
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.
Nanso Israelfoɔ no su frɛɛ Awurade bio no, Awurade maa wɔn ɔgyefoɔ. Ne din ne Ehud, Gera babarima a ɔyɛ abenkumma na ɔfiri Benyamin abusuakuo mu. Israelfoɔ no somaa Ehud sɛ ɔmfa wɔn apeatoɔ sika nkɔma Moabhene Eglon.
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.
Enti, Ehud bɔɔ sekan anofanu a ne tenten yɛ nsateakwaa dunwɔtwe. Ɔde hyɛɛ ne srɛ nifa ho de siee nʼatadeɛ mu.
17 He gave the money to King Eglon, who was a very fat man.
Ɔde apeatoɔ sika no brɛɛ Eglon a wayɛ kɛse twɔfee no.
18 Then Ehud started to go back home with the men who had carried the money.
Ɔde sika no maa no wieeɛ no, Ehud gyaa wɔn a na wɔso sika no kwan ma wɔkɔɔ fie.
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.
Nanso, ɛberɛ a Ehud duruu aboɔ ahoni a ɛbɛn Gilgal no, ɔsane nʼakyi baa Eglon nkyɛn bɛka kyerɛɛ no sɛ, “Mewɔ kokoamsɛm bi meka kyerɛ wo.” Enti ɔhene no maa nʼasomfoɔ no nyinaa yɛɛ dinn na ɔmaa wɔn nyinaa firii ɛdan mu hɔ.
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,
Afei, Ehud kɔɔ Eglon nkyɛn. Na ɔte aborɔsan dan bi a emu dwoɔ mu. Ehud ka kyerɛɛ no sɛ, “Mewɔ asɛm bi a ɛfiri Onyankopɔn nkyɛn ka kyerɛ wo!” Ɛberɛ a ɔhene Eglon sɔre firii nʼakonnwa mu ara pɛ,
21 Ehud reached with his left hand and pulled the dagger from his right thigh, and plunged it into the king’s belly.
Ehud de ne nsa benkum twee sekan a ɔde ahyɛ ne srɛ nifa ho no de wɔɔ ɔhene no yafunu mu.
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.
Sekan no kɔɔ akyiri kɔsii sɛ nʼabona no mpo wuraa ɔhene no sradeɛ mu maa ɛso kataeɛ. Enti, Ehud gyaa sekan no wɔ yafunu no mu maa ne nsono tu guiɛ.
23 Then Ehud left the room. He went out to the porch. He shut the doors to the room and locked them.
Afei, Ehud totoo apono no mu foroo agyanan dan no, faa ne nsuseneeɛ no mu dwane kɔeɛ.
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.”
Ehud kɔeɛ akyi no, ɔhene asomfoɔ no baa hɔ bɛhunuu sɛ, apono a ɛkɔ aborɔsan no so no, wɔatoto mu. Na wɔdwene sɛ ɔwɔ agyananbea hɔ,
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.
enti, wɔtwɛneeɛ. Wɔtwɛneeɛ ara na ɔhene no mma no, ɛhaa wɔn ma wɔkɔpɛɛ safoa bi. Na wɔbuee ɛpono no, wɔhunuu sɛ wɔn wura awu da fam.
26 Meanwhile, Ehud escaped. He passed by the stone carvings and arrived at Seirah, in the hilly area where the descendants of Ephraim lived.
Ɛberɛ a asomfoɔ no retwɛn no, Ehud dwane faa aboɔ ahoni no so a ɔrekɔ Seira.
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.
Ɔduruu Efraim bepɔ asase no so no, Ehud hyɛnee totorobɛnto kyerɛɛ ɔman no sɛ wɔmfa akodeɛ mmra. Enti, ɔdii Israelfoɔ kuo bi anim sianee bepɔ no.
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].
Ɔka kyerɛɛ wɔn sɛ, “Monni mʼakyi. Awurade ama moadi Moabfoɔ a wɔyɛ mo atamfoɔ no so nkonim.” Enti, wɔtu dii nʼakyi. Israelfoɔ no faa asubɔnten Yordan baabi a ɛhɔ nnɔ a wɔfiri Moab tware. Ɛno enti na obiara ntumi mfa hɔ ntwa Asubɔnten no.
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.
Wɔto hyɛɛ Moabfoɔ no so. Wɔkunkumm wɔn nnɔmmarima no bɛyɛ ɔpedu. Wɔn mu biara antumi annwane.
30 On that day, the Israelis conquered the people of Moab. Then there was peace in their land for 80 years.
Enti, Israelfoɔ dii Moabfoɔ so nkonim saa ɛda no, na asomdwoeɛ baa asase no so mfirinhyia aduɔwɔtwe.
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).
Ehud akyi no, Anat babarima Samgar gyee Israelfoɔ. Ɔde nantwika abaa kumm Filistifoɔ aha nsia.
