Judges 2–3

PATTERN OF SIN AND JUDGMENT

2The angel of the Lordⁱ went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land^j I had promised to your ancestors.^k I also said: I will never break my covenant with you. ²You are not to make a covenant^l with the inhabitants of this land. You are to tear down their altars.^m But you have not obeyed me. What have you done? ³Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you.ⁿ They will be thorns^A in your sides,^o and their gods will be a trap for you.”^{p 4}When the angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. ⁵So they named that place Bochim^B and offered sacrifices there to the Lord.

JOSHUA’S DEATH

⁶Previously, when Joshua had sent the people away, the Israelites had gone to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.^{q 7}The people worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great works^r he had done for Israel.

⁸Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. ⁹They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim,^s north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord^t or the works he had done for Israel.

¹¹The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.^u They worshiped the Baals^{v 12}and abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed other gods from the surrounding peoples^w and bowed down to them. They angered the Lord,^{x 13}for they abandoned him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.^y

¹⁴The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold^z them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies. ¹⁵Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord was against them^aa and brought disaster on them, just as he had promised and sworn to them.^ab So they suffered greatly.

¹⁶The Lord raised up^ac judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders, ¹⁷but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted^ad themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way^ae of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands. They did not do as their ancestors did. ¹⁸Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was with^af him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive. The Lord was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them. ¹⁹Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly^ag than their ancestors, following other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them. They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate^ah ways.

²⁰The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he declared, “Because this nation has violated my covenant^a that I made with their ancestors^b and disobeyed me, ²¹I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left^c when he died.^{d 22}I did this to test Israel and to see whether or not they would keep the Lord’s way^e by walking in it, as their ancestors had.”^{f 23}The Lord left these nations and did not drive them out immediately. He did not hand them over to Joshua.

THE LORD TESTS ISRAEL

3These are the nations the Lord left in order to test all those in Israel who had experienced none of the wars in Canaan.^{g 2}This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites how to fight in battle, especially those who had not fought before. ³These nations included the five rulers^h of the Philistinesⁱ and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians,^j and the Hivites^k who lived in the Lebanese mountains from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath.^{A 4}The Lord left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the Lord’s commands he had given their ancestors through Moses.^{l 5}But they settled among the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁶The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.^m

OTHNIEL, THE FIRST JUDGE

⁷The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; they forgot the Lord their Godⁿ and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs. ⁸The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them to King Cushan-rishathaim^B of Aram-naharaim,^Co and the Israelites served him eight years.

⁹The Israelites cried out to the Lord.^p So the Lord raised up Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s youngest brother,^q as a deliverer^r to save the Israelites. ¹⁰The Spirit of the Lord came on him, and he judged Israel. Othniel went out to battle, and the Lord handed over King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram to him, so that Othniel overpowered him. ¹¹Then the land had peace for^s forty years, and Othniel son of Kenaz died.

EHUD

¹²The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He gave King Eglon of Moab^t power over Israel, because they had done what was evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹³After Eglon convinced the Ammonites and the Amalekites to join forces with him, he attacked and defeated Israel and took possession of the City of Palms.^{u 14}The Israelites served King Eglon of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed^v Benjaminite,^E as a deliverer for them. The Israelites sent him with the tribute^w for King Eglon of Moab.

¹⁶Ehud made himself a double-edged sword eighteen inches long.^F He strapped it to his right thigh under his clothes ¹⁷and brought the tribute to King Eglon of Moab, who was an extremely fat man. ¹⁸When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he dismissed the people who had carried it. ¹⁹At the carved images near Gilgal he returned and said, “King Eglon, I have a secret message for you.” The king said, “Silence!” and all his attendants left him. ²⁰Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in his upstairs room where it was cool. Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you,” and the king stood up from his throne. ²¹Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly. ²²Even the handle went in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And the waste came out.^{A 23}Ehud escaped by way of the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upstairs room behind him.

²⁴Ehud was gone when Eglon’s servants came in. They looked and found the doors of the upstairs room locked and thought he was relieving himself^B in the cool room. ²⁵The servants waited until they became embarrassed and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upstairs room. So they took the key and opened the doors—and there was their lord lying dead on the floor!

²⁶Ehud escaped while the servants waited. He passed the Jordan near the carved images and reached Seirah. ²⁷After he arrived, he sounded the trumpet throughout the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites came down with him from the hill country, and he became their leader. ²⁸He told them, “Follow me, because the Lord has handed over your enemies, the Moabites, to you.” So they followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over.^{a 29}At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all stout and able-bodied men. Not one of them escaped. ³⁰Moab became subject to Israel that day, and the land had peace for eighty years.

SHAMGAR

³¹After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath became judge. He also delivered Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with a cattle prod.