Judges 3
3
1These are the nations the Lord did not force to leave. He wanted to test the Israelites who had not fought in the wars of Canaan. 2(The only reason the Lord left those nations in the land was to teach the descendants of the Israelites who had not fought in those wars how to fight.) 3These are the nations: the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the people of Sidon, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 4Those nations were in the land to test the Israelites—to see if they would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors by Moses.
5The people of Israel lived with the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 6The Israelites began to marry the daughters of those people, and they allowed their daughters to marry the sons of those people. Israel also served their gods.
Othniel, the First Judge
7The Israelites did what the Lord said was wrong. They forgot about the Lord their God and served the idols of Baal and Asherah. 8So the Lord was angry with Israel and allowed Cushan-Rishathaim king of Northwest Mesopotamia to rule over the Israelites for eight years. 9When Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord sent someone to save them. Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, saved the Israelites. 10The Spirit of the Lord entered Othniel, and he became Israel’s judge. When he went to war, the Lord handed over to him Cushan-Rishathaim king of Northwest Mesopotamia. 11So the land was at peace for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.
Ehud, the Judge
12Again the people of Israel did what the Lord said was wrong. So the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power to defeat Israel because of the evil Israel did. 13Eglon got the Ammonites and the Amalekites to join him. Then he attacked Israel and took Jericho, the city of palm trees. 14So the people of Israel were ruled by Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.
15When the people cried to the Lord, he sent someone to save them. He was Ehud, son of Gera from the people of Benjamin, who was left-handed. Israel sent Ehud to give Eglon king of Moab the payment he demanded. 16Ehud made himself a sword with two edges, about eighteen inches long, and he tied it to his right hip under his clothes. 17Ehud gave Eglon king of Moab the payment he demanded. Now Eglon was a very fat man. 18After he had given Eglon the payment, Ehud sent away the people who had carried it. 19When he passed the statues near Gilgal, he turned around and said to Eglon, “I have a secret message for you, King Eglon.”
The king said, “Be quiet!” Then he sent all of his servants out of the room. 20Ehud went to King Eglon, as he was sitting alone in the room above his summer palace.
Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king stood up from his chair, 21Ehud reached with his left hand and took out the sword that was tied to his right hip. Then he stabbed the sword deep into the king’s belly! 22Even the handle sank in, and the blade came out his back. The king’s fat covered the whole sword, so Ehud left the sword in Eglon. 23Then he went out of the room and closed and locked the doors behind him.
24When the servants returned just after Ehud left, they found the doors to the room locked. So they thought the king was relieving himself. 25They waited for a long time. Finally they became worried because he still had not opened the doors. So they got the key and unlocked them and saw their king lying dead on the floor!
26While the servants were waiting, Ehud had escaped. He passed by the statues and went to Seirah. 27When he reached the mountains of Ephraim he blew the trumpet. The people of Israel heard it and went down from the hills with Ehud leading them.
28He said to them, “Follow me! The Lord has helped you to defeat your enemies, the Moabites.” So Israel followed Ehud and captured the crossings of the Jordan River. They did not allow the Moabites to cross the Jordan River. 29Israel killed about ten thousand strong and able men from Moab; not one escaped. 30So that day Moab was forced to be under the rule of Israel, and there was peace in the land for eighty years.
Shamgar, the Judge
31After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath saved Israel. Shamgar killed six hundred Philistines with a sharp stick used to guide oxen.
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Judges 3
3
Judges 3
1¶ Now these are the Gentiles which the Lord left, to prove Israel with them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
2 he left them only that the generations of the sons of Israel might know, and to teach them war, only for those that had known nothing before:
3 namely, five cardinals of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.
4These, therefore, were left to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5And as the sons of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites,
6they took their daughters to be their wives and gave their daughters to their sons and served their gods.
7And the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord their God and served the Baalim and the groves.
8¶ Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia, and the sons of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.
9And when the sons of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a saviour to the sons of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
10And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel and went out to war; and the Lord delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim.
11And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died.
12¶ And the sons of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord.
13And he gathered unto him the sons of Ammon and of Amalek and went and smote Israel and took the city of palm trees.
14So the sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
15But when the sons of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a saviour, Ehud, the son of Gera, a son of Jemini, {Benjamin} a man, who had his right hand impeded, and by him the sons of Israel sent a present unto Eglon, the king of Moab.
16But Ehud had made himself a two-edged sword of a cubit length, and he girded it under his clothing 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 offered the present, he sent away the people that had brought the present.
19But he, himself turned again from the graven images that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret word for thee, O king, who then 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 word from God unto thee. Then he arose out of his seat.
21But Ehud put forth his left hand and took the sword from his right thigh and thrust it into Eglon’s belly;
22in such a manner that 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 excrement came out.
23Then Ehud went forth through the porch and shut the doors of the parlour upon him and locked them.
24When he was gone out, his slaves came; and when they saw that the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Peradventure he covers his feet in his summer chamber.
25And having waited until they were confounded and he had not opened the doors of the parlour; therefore, they took a key and opened them; and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.
26But while they had waited, Ehud escaped and passed beyond the graven images and escaped unto Seirath.
27And as he entered in, he blew the shofar in the mountain of Ephraim, and the sons of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them.
28Then he said unto them, Follow after me, for the Lord has delivered your enemies, the Moabites, into your hands. And they went down after him and took the fords of the Jordan towards Moab and did not let anyone pass.
29And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all fat, and all men of war, and there escaped not a man.
30So Moab was subjected that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years.
31¶ And after him was Shamgar, the son of Anath, who slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad, and he also saved Israel.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International