Judges 3:15-30
Contemporary English Version
15-16 The Israelites begged the Lord for help, and the Lord chose Ehud[a] 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[b] at Gilgal.[c] Then he turned back and went upstairs to the room[d] 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[e] 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.[f]
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.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 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.
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