Judges 2–3

CHAPTER 2

The Angel of Yahweh Speaks to Israel

¹Then ^athe angel of Yahweh came up from Gilgal to ^bBochim. And he said, “^cI brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘^dI will never break My covenant with you,

²and as for you, ^ayou shall cut no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ^byou shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not listened to My voice; what is this you have done?

³“Therefore I also said, ‘^aI will not drive them out before you; but they will ¹become ^bas thorns in your sides, and their gods will become a snare to you.’”

⁴So it happened that when the angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.

⁵So they named that place ¹Bochim; and there they sacrificed to Yahweh.

Joshua’s Death and Burial

^6aThen Joshua sent the people away, and the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land.

⁷And the people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who ¹survived Joshua, who saw all the great work of Yahweh which He had done for Israel.

⁸Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died at the age of 110.

⁹And they buried him in the territory of ^ahis inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

¹⁰And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who ^adid not know Yahweh or even the work which He had done for Israel.

Israel Serves Baals

¹¹Then the sons of Israel did ^awhat was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and ¹served the ^bBaals,

¹²and ^athey forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked Yahweh to anger.

¹³So they forsook Yahweh and ^aserved Baal and the Ashtaroth.

^14aAnd the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and ^bHe sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.

¹⁵Wherever they went, the hand of Yahweh was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken and ^aas Yahweh had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.

Yahweh Raises Up Judges

^16aThen Yahweh raised up judges ¹who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them.

¹⁷Yet they did not listen to their judges either, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way ^ain which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of Yahweh; they did not do as their fathers.

¹⁸Now when Yahweh raised up judges for them, ^aYahweh was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for Yahweh was ^bmoved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and suppressed them.

¹⁹But it happened when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.

^20aSo the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has trespassed against My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice,

^21aI also will no longer dispossess before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died,

²²in order to ^atest Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk in it as their fathers ¹did, or not.”

²³So Yahweh allowed those nations to rest, not dispossessing them quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

CHAPTER 3

Yahweh Tests Israel

^1aNow these are the nations which Yahweh allowed to remain, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not known any of the wars of Canaan;

²¹however, God tested them in order that the generations of the sons of Israel would know war, by learning war, ²especially those who had not known it formerly).

³These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and ^athe Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as ¹Lebo-hamath.

⁴And they were for ^1atesting Israel, to know if they would ²obey the commandments of Yahweh, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

^5aNow the sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites;

⁶and ^athey took their daughters for themselves as wives and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.

Yahweh Raises Up Othniel

⁷Thus the sons of Israel did ^awhat was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and ^bforgot Yahweh their God and ^cserved the Baals and the ¹Asheroth.

⁸Then the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, so that He sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of ¹Mesopotamia; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.

⁹Then the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up a savior for the sons of Israel to save them, ^aOthniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

^10aAnd the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to war, and Yahweh gave Cushan-rishathaim king of ¹Mesopotamia into his hand. So his hand was strong against Cushan-rishathaim.

¹¹Then the land was quiet for forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

¹²Then the sons of Israel again ^adid what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. So ^bYahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel because they had done what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

¹³And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed ^athe city of the palm trees.

¹⁴So the sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

Yahweh Raises Up Ehud and Shamgar

¹⁵Then the sons of Israel ^acried to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up a savior for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by his hand to Eglon the king of Moab.

¹⁶And Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a ¹cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his cloak.

¹⁷Then he brought the tribute near to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.

¹⁸And it happened when he had finished bringing the tribute near, that he sent away the people who had carried the tribute.

¹⁹But he himself turned back from the graven images which were at Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he said, “Keep silence.” And all who stood by him left him.

²⁰But Ehud came to him while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat.

²¹Then Ehud sent forth his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.

²²The handle also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and the refuse came out.

²³Then Ehud went out into the vestibule and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.

²⁴Now he went out, and his servants came in and looked, and behold, the doors of the roof chamber were locked; and they said, “^aHe is surely ¹relieving himself in the cool room.”

²⁵Then they waited until they were ashamed; but behold, he did not open the doors of the roof chamber. Therefore they took the key and opened them, and behold, their master had fallen to the ¹floor dead.

²⁶Now Ehud escaped while they were delaying, and he passed by the graven images and escaped to Seirah.

²⁷And it happened when he had arrived, that ^ahe blew the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was in front of them.

²⁸Then he said to them, “Pursue them, for Yahweh has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands.” So they went down after him and captured ^athe fords of the Jordan opposite Moab and did not allow anyone to cross.

²⁹And they struck down at that time about 10,000 Moabites, all robust and valiant men; and no one escaped.

³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was quiet for eighty years.

³¹Now after him was ^aShamgar the son of Anath. And he struck down 600 Philistines with an oxgoad; and he also saved Israel.