Judges 3:12–30

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.