Judges 3

3Now 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 ^e*they 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.

^12q*And 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. ^15*But 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.