Judges 2–3

Israel’s Disobedience

2Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to ^jBochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ^k‘I will never break my covenant with you, ^2land you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ^myou shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? ³So now I say, ⁿI will not drive them out before you, but they shall become ^othorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” ⁴As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. ⁵And they called the name of that place Bochim.¹ And they sacrificed there to the Lord.

The Death of Joshua

⁶When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. ^7pAnd the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. ⁸And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. ⁹And they buried him within the boundaries of ^qhis inheritance in Timnath-heres, ^rin the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. ¹⁰And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness

^11sAnd the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. ^12tAnd they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. ^uThey went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and ^vbowed down to them. ^wAnd they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³They abandoned the Lord ^xand served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. ^14ySo the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he ^zgave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. ^aAnd he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, ^bso that they could no longer withstand their enemies. ¹⁵Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, ^cand as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.

The Lord Raises Up Judges

^16dThen the Lord raised up judges, ^ewho saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. ¹⁷Yet they did not listen to their judges, for ^fthey whored after other gods and bowed down to them. ^gThey soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. ¹⁸Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, ^hthe Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. ⁱFor the Lord was moved to pity by ^jtheir groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. ¹⁹But ^kwhenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. ^20lSo the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people ^mhave transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, ²¹ⁿI will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, ²²in order ^oto test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” ²³So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

3^pNow 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: ^qthe 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 ^rthe 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 ^samong the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ^6tAnd their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.

Othniel

^7uAnd 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 ^vthe Asheroth. ⁸Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, ^wand he sold them into the hand of ^xCushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. ⁹But when the people of Israel ^ycried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a ^zdeliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, ^aOthniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. ^10bThe 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. ^11cSo the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

^12dAnd the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon ^ethe 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 ^fAmalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of ^gthe city of palms. ¹⁴And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵Then the people of Israel ^hcried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them ^ha deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, ⁱa 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 cubit¹ 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 ^jat 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 ^kcool roof chamber. ^lAnd 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 porch² and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him ^mand locked them.

²⁴When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, ⁿ“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 ^othe idols and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷When he arrived, ^phe sounded the trumpet in ^qthe 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, ^rfor the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized ^sthe 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. ^tAnd the land had rest for eighty years.

Shamgar

³¹After him was ^uShamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines ^vwith an oxgoad, and he also ^wsaved Israel.