Judges 2–3

Chapter 2

Israel Rebuked

¹Now ^athe angel of the Lord 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 make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ^byou shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not ¹obeyed Me; 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 be a snare to you.’ ”

⁴When the angel of the Lord 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 the Lord.

Joshua Dies

^6aWhen Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land.

⁷The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who ¹survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel.

⁸Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and ten.

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

¹⁰All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who ^adid not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.

Israel Serves Baals

¹¹Then the sons of Israel did ^aevil in the sight of the Lord and ¹served the ^bBaals,

¹²and ^athey forsook the Lord, 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 the Lord to anger.

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

^14aThe anger of the Lord 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 the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had spoken and ^aas the Lord had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.

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

¹⁷Yet they did not listen to their judges, 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 the Lord; they did not do as their fathers.

¹⁸When the Lord raised up judges for them, ^athe Lord was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was ^bmoved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them.

¹⁹But it came about 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 the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice,

^21aI also will no longer drive out 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 the Lord to walk in it as their fathers ¹did, or not.”

²³So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

Chapter 3

Idolatry Leads to Servitude

^1aNow these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not ¹experienced any of the wars of Canaan;

²only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might ¹be taught war, ²those who had not ³experienced 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.

⁴They were for ^1atesting Israel, to find out if they would ²obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers ³through Moses.

^5aThe 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.

⁷The sons of Israel did ^awhat was evil in the sight of the Lord, and ^bforgot the Lord their God and ^cserved the Baals and the ¹Asheroth.

⁸Then the anger of the Lord was kindled 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.

The First Judge Delivers Israel

⁹When the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them, ^aOthniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

^10aThe Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. When he went out to war, the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of ¹Mesopotamia into his hand, so that ²he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.

¹¹Then the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

¹²Now the sons of Israel again ^adid evil in the sight of the Lord. So ^bthe Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord.

¹³And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and ¹defeated Israel, and they possessed ^athe city of the palm trees.

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

Ehud Delivers from Moab

¹⁵But when the sons of Israel ^acried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by ¹him to Eglon the king of Moab.

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

¹⁷He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.

¹⁸It came about when he had finished presenting the tribute, that he sent away the people who had carried the tribute.

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

²⁰Ehud 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.

²¹Ehud stretched out 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.

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

²⁵They waited until they ¹became anxious; 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 ²floor dead.

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

²⁷It came about 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.

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

²⁹They struck down at that time about ten thousand 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 undisturbed for eighty years.

Shamgar Delivers from Philistines

³¹After him came ^aShamgar the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad; and he also saved Israel.