Judges 3

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.