Judges 2–3

And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal ^ato Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never ^bbreak my covenant with you. ²And ^cye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ^dyou shall throw down their altars: ^ebut ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? ³Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be ^fas thorns in your sides, and ^gtheir gods shall be a ^hsnare unto you. ⁴And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lift up their voice, and wept. ⁵And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the Lord.

⁶And when ⁱJoshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. ⁷And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel. ⁸And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old. ⁹And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, ^jin the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.

¹⁰And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which ^kknew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. ¹¹And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: ¹²and they ^lforsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed ^mother gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and ⁿbowed themselves unto them, and ^oprovoked the Lord to anger. ¹³And they forsook the Lord, and ^pserved Baal and Ashtaroth. ¹⁴And ^qthe anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he ^rdelivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and ^she sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they ^tcould not any longer stand before their enemies. ¹⁵Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and ^uas the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. ¹⁶Nevertheless ^xthe Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. ¹⁷And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they ^ywent a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: ^zthey turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so. ¹⁸And when the Lord raised them up judges, then ^athe Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for ^bit repented the Lord because of their ^cgroanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. ¹⁹And it came to pass, ^dwhen the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. ²⁰And ^ethe anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath ^ftransgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; ^21gI also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: ²²that ^hthrough them I may ⁱprove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. ²³Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.

III.Now these are ^athe nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; ²only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof: ³namely, ^bfive lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount ^cLebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Hamath. ⁴And they were ^ato prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

^5dAnd the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: ⁶and ^ethey took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. ^7fAnd the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, ^gand served Baalim and ^hthe groves. ⁸Therefore ⁱthe anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he ⁱsold them into the hand of ^kChushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years. ⁹And when the children of Israel ^lcried unto the Lord, the Lord ^mraised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even ⁿOthniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. ¹⁰And ^othe spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the Lord delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim. ¹¹And ^pthe land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

^12qAnd the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord strengthened Eglon ^rthe king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³And he gathered unto him the children of ^sAmmon and ^tAmalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed ^uthe city of palm trees. ¹⁴So the children of Israel ^vserved Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. ¹⁵But when the children of Israel ^wcried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent ^xa present unto Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. ¹⁷And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people ^ythat bare the present. ¹⁹But he himself turned again ^zfrom the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. ²⁰And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. ²¹And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: ²²and the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out. ²³Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and ^ashut the doors of the parlour upon him, and ^blocked them. ²⁴When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. ²⁵And they tarried till they were ashamed: and behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. ²⁶And Ehud escaped while they ^ctarried, and passed beyond the ^dquarries, and escaped unto Seirath. ²⁷And it came to pass, when he was come, that ^ehe blew a trumpet in the ^fmountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them. ²⁸And he said unto them, Follow after me: for ^gthe Lord hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took ^hthe fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. ²⁹And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man. ³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And ⁱthe land had rest fourscore years.

³¹And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: ^kand he also delivered Israel.

IV.