Judges 2–3

Pattern of Sin and Judgment

2The Angel of the Lord ^jwent up from Gilgal to Bochim ^kand said, “I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land ^lI had promised to your fathers. ^mI also said: I will never break My covenant with you. ²You are not to make a covenant ⁿwith the people who are living in this land, and you are to tear down their altars. ^opBut you have not obeyed Me. What is this you have done? ³Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you. ^qThey will be thorns ^rsin your sides, ^tand their gods will be a trap for you.” ^u4When the Angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. ⁵So they named that place Bochim ^vand offered sacrifices there to the Lord.

Joshua’s Death

⁶Joshua sent the people away, and the Israelites went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. ^w7The people worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived ^xJoshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great works ^yHe 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, ^znorth of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord ^aor the works He had done for Israel.

¹¹The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. ^bThey worshiped the Baals ^c12and abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods from the surrounding peoples ^dand bowed down to them. They infuriated the Lord, ^e13for they abandoned Him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths. ^f

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

¹⁶The Lord raised up ^ljudges, who saved them from the power of their marauders, ¹⁷but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted ^mthemselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way ⁿof their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands. They did not do as their fathers did. ¹⁸Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was with ^ohim and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive. ^pThe 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 ^qthan their fathers, going after other gods to worship and bow down to them. They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate ^rways.

²⁰The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He declared, “Because this nation has violated My covenant ^sthat I made with their fathers ^tand disobeyed Me, ²¹I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left ^uwhen he died. ^v22I did this to test Israel and to see whether they would keep the Lord’s way ^wby walking in it, as their fathers had.” ^x23The 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 Israel, since the Israelites had fought none of these in ^yany of the wars with Canaan. ^z2This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites how to fight in battle, especially those who had not fought before. ^a3These nations included: the five rulers ^bof the Philistines ^cand all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, ^dand the Hivites ^ewho lived in the Lebanese mountains ^ffrom Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath. ^g4The Lord left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the Lord’s commands He had given their fathers through ^hMoses. ⁱ⁵But they settled among the Canaanites, Hittites, 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. ^j

Othniel, the First Judge

⁷The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; they forgot the Lord their God ^kand worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs. ⁸The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He sold them to ^lCushan-rishathaim ^mking of Aram-naharaim, ^noand the Israelites served him eight years.

⁹The Israelites cried out to the Lord. ^pSo the Lord raised up Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s youngest brother, ^qas a deliverer ^rto 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 Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram to him, so that Othniel overpowered him. ¹¹Then the land was peaceful ^s40 years, and Othniel son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

¹²The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He gave Eglon king of Moab ^tpower 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. ^uv14The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab 18 years.

¹⁵Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed ^wBenjaminite, ^xas a deliverer for them. The Israelites sent him to Eglon king of Moab with tribute ^ymoney.

¹⁶Ehud made himself a double-edged sword 18 inches long. ^zHe strapped it to his right thigh under his clothes ¹⁷and brought the tribute to Eglon king 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 called for silence, and all his attendants left him. ²⁰Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in his room upstairs where it was cool. Ehud said, “I have a word from God for you,” and the king stood up from his throne. ^a21Ehud ^breached 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 Eglon’s insides came out. ²³Ehud 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 ^cin the cool room. ²⁵The servants waited until they became worried 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 crossed over the Jordan near the carved images and reached Seirah. ²⁷After he arrived, he sounded the ram’s horn 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. ^d29At that time they struck down about 10,000 Moabites, all strong and able-bodied men. Not one of them escaped. ³⁰Moab became subject to Israel that day, and the land was peaceful 80 years.

Shamgar

³¹After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath became judge. He delivered Israel by striking down 600 Philistines with an oxgoad.