Judges 3
English Standard Version
3 (A)Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. 2 It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. 3 These are the nations: (B)the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. 4 They were for (C)the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. 5 So the people of Israel lived (D)among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 6 (E)And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.
Othniel
7 (F)And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and (G)the Asheroth. 8 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, (H)and he sold them into the hand of (I)Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. 9 But when the people of Israel (J)cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a (K)deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, (L)Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. 10 (M)The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. 11 (N)So the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
Ehud
12 (O)And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon (P)the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 13 He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the (Q)Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of (R)the city of palms. 14 And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
15 Then the people of Israel (S)cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them (T)a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, (U)a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. 16 And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit[a] in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. 17 And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. 18 And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. 19 But he himself turned back (V)at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. 20 And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his (W)cool roof chamber. (X)And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. 21 And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. 22 And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. 23 Then Ehud went out into the porch[b] and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him (Y)and locked them.
24 When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, (Z)“Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.” 25 And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.
26 Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond (AA)the idols and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived, (AB)he sounded the trumpet in (AC)the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. 28 And he said to them, “Follow after me, (AD)for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized (AE)the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. 29 And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. (AF)And the land had rest for eighty years.
Shamgar
31 After him was (AG)Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines (AH)with an oxgoad, and he also (AI)saved Israel.
Footnotes
- Judges 3:16 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
- Judges 3:23 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
Judges 3
Contemporary English Version
3 1-2 And the Lord had another reason for letting these enemies stay. The Israelites needed to learn how to fight in war, just as their ancestors had done. Each new generation would have to learn by fighting 3 the Philistines and their five rulers, as well as the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites that lived in the Lebanon Mountains from Mount Baal-Hermon to Hamath Pass.[a]
4 Moses had told the Israelites what the Lord had commanded them to do, and now the Lord was using these nations to find out if Israel would obey. 5-6 But they refused. And some of them even married Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites who lived all around them. That's how they started worshiping foreign gods.
Othniel
7 The Israelites sinned against the Lord by forgetting him and worshiping idols of Baal and Astarte. 8 This made the Lord angry, so he let Israel be defeated by King Cushan Rishathaim of northern Syria,[b] who ruled Israel eight years and made everyone pay taxes. 9 The Israelites begged the Lord for help, and so he chose Othniel to rescue them. Othniel was the son of Caleb's younger brother Kenaz.[c] 10 The Spirit of the Lord took control of Othniel, and he led Israel in a war against Cushan Rishathaim. The Lord let Othniel win, 11 and Israel was at peace until Othniel died about 40 years later.
Ehud
12 Once more the Israelites started disobeying the Lord. So he let them be defeated by King Eglon of Moab, 13 who had joined forces with the Ammonites and the Amalekites to attack Israel. Eglon and his army captured Jericho.[d] 14 Then he ruled Israel for 18 years and forced the Israelites to pay heavy taxes.
15-16 The Israelites begged the Lord for help, and the Lord chose Ehud[e] from the Benjamin tribe to rescue them. They put Ehud in charge of taking the taxes to King Eglon, but before Ehud went, he made a double-edged dagger. Ehud was left-handed, so he strapped the dagger to his right thigh, where it was hidden under his robes.
17-18 Ehud and some other Israelites took the taxes to Eglon, who was a very fat man. As soon as they gave the taxes to Eglon, Ehud said it was time to go home.
19-20 Ehud went with the other Israelites as far as the statues[f] at Gilgal.[g] Then he turned back and went upstairs to the room[h] where Eglon had his throne. Ehud said, “Your Majesty, I need to talk with you in private.”
Eglon replied, “Don't say anything yet!” His officials left the room, and Eglon stood up as Ehud came closer.
“Yes,” Ehud said, “I have a message for you from God!” 21 Ehud pulled out the dagger with his left hand and shoved it so far into Eglon's stomach 22-23 that even the handle was buried in his fat. Ehud left the dagger there. Then after closing and locking the doors to the room, he climbed through a window onto the porch[i] 24 and left.
When the king's officials came back and saw that the doors were locked, they said, “The king is probably inside relieving himself.” 25 They stood there waiting until they felt foolish, but Eglon still didn't open the doors. Finally, they unlocked the doors and found King Eglon lying dead on the floor. 26 But by that time, Ehud had already escaped past the statues.[j]
Ehud went to the town of Seirah 27-28 in the hill country of Ephraim and started blowing a trumpet as a signal to call the Israelites together. When they came, he shouted, “Follow me! The Lord will help us defeat the Moabites.”
The Israelites followed Ehud down to the Jordan valley, and they captured the places where people cross the river on the way to Moab. They would not let anyone go across, 29 and before the fighting was over, they killed about 10,000 Moabite warriors—not one escaped alive.
30 Moab was so badly defeated that it was a long time before they were strong enough to attack Israel again. And Israel was at peace for 80 years.
Shamgar
31 Shamgar the son of Anath was the next to rescue Israel. In one battle, he used a sharp wooden pole[k] to kill 600 Philistines.
Footnotes
- 3.3 Hamath Pass: Or “Lebo-Hamath.”
- 3.8 northern Syria: The Hebrew text has “Aram-Naharaim,” probably referring to the land around the city of Haran (see Genesis 24.10; 25.20; 28.2,6; 31.18,20; 33.18; 35.23-26; 46.8-15; 48.7).
- 3.9 Othniel was the son of … Kenaz: See the note at 1.13.
- 3.13 Jericho: See the note at 1.16.
- 3.15,16 Ehud: Hebrew “Ehud the son of Gera.”
- 3.19,20 statues: Or “stone idols” or “stone monuments.”
- 3.19,20 Gilgal: About two and a half kilometers from Jericho, where Eglon probably was (see verse 13).
- 3.19,20 upstairs … room: Houses usually had flat roofs, and sometimes a room was built on one corner of the roof where it could best catch the breeze and be kept cooler than the rest of the house.
- 3.22,23 he climbed … porch: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 3.26 statues: See the note at 3.19,20.
- 3.31 sharp wooden pole: The Hebrew text has “cattle prod,” a pole with a sharpened tip or metal point at one end.
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