²⁰ Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace^[a](A) and said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose^(B) from his seat, ²¹ Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword^(C) from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly. ²² Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. ²³ Then Ehud went out to the porch^[b]; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

²⁴ After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself^(D) in the inner room of the palace.” ²⁵ They waited to the point of embarrassment,^(E) but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.

²⁶ While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷ When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet^(F) in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.

²⁸ “Follow me,” he ordered, “for the Lord has given Moab,^(G) your enemy, into your hands.^(H)” So they followed him down and took possession of the fords of the Jordan^(I) that led to Moab; they allowed no one to cross over.