Judges 3

¹Now these are the nations that the Lord left , to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan .

²It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before .

³These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon , from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath .

⁴They were for the testing of Israel , to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses .

⁵So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites , the Hittites , the Amorites , the Perizzites , the Hivites , and the Jebusites .

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

⁷And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth .

⁸Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel , and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia . And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years .

⁹But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel , who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz , Caleb’s younger brother .

¹⁰The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel . He went out to war , and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand . And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim .

¹¹So the land had rest forty years . Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died .

¹²And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel , because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

¹³He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites , and went and defeated Israel . And they took possession of the city of palms .

¹⁴And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years .

¹⁵Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer , Ehud , the son of Gera , the Benjaminite , a left-handed man . The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab .

¹⁶And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges , a cubit in length , and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes .

¹⁷And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab . Now Eglon was a very fat man .

¹⁸And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute , he sent away the people who carried the tribute .

¹⁹But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said , I have a secret message for you, O king . And he commanded , Silence . And all his attendants went out from his presence .

²⁰And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber . And Ehud said , I have a message from God for you. And he arose from his seat .

²¹And Ehud reached with his left hand , took the sword from his right thigh , and thrust it into his belly .

²²And the hilt also went in after the blade , and the fat closed over the blade , for he did not pull the sword out of his belly ; and the dung came out .

²³Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.

²⁴When he had gone , the servants came , and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked , they thought , Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber .

²⁵And they waited till they were embarrassed . But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber , they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor .

²⁶Ehud escaped while they delayed , and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah .

²⁷When he arrived , he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim . Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country , and he was their leader .

²⁸And he said to them, Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand . So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over .

²⁹And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites , all strong , able-bodied men ; not a man escaped .

³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel . And the land had rest for eighty years .

³¹After him was Shamgar the son of Anath , who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad , and he also saved Israel .