Judges 3
King James Version
3 Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;
3 Namely, five lords 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.
4 And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:
6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served 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 children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.
9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
10 And 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.
11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
12 And the children 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.
13 And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.
14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
15 But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.
16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.
17 And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.
18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.
19 But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.
20 And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.
21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:
22 And 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 dirt came out.
23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.
24 When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber.
25 And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.
26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.
27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them.
28 And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the Lord hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over.
29 And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man.
30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.
31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.
Judges 3
International Standard Version
Unconquered Canaanite Nations
3 Here’s a list of nations that the Lord caused to remain in order to test Israel (that is,[a] everyone who had not gained any battle experience in Canaan) 2 only so that successive Israeli generations, who had not known war previously, might come to know it by experience. 3 These nations included[b] the five lords of the Philistines, all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. 4 They remained there to test Israel, to reveal if they would obey the commands of the Lord that he issued to their ancestors through Moses.
Othniel, Israel’s First Judge
5 The Israelis continued to live among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, 6 taking their daughters as wives for themselves, giving their own daughters to their sons, and serving their gods. 7 The Israelis kept on practicing evil in full view of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served Canaanite male and female deities.[c] 8 Then in his burning anger against Israel, the Lord delivered them to domination by King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim.[d] So the Israelis served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years. 9 When the Israelis cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz, to deliver[e] them,[f] and he did. 10 The Spirit of the Lord was on him, and he governed Israel. When Othniel[g] went out to battle, the Lord handed king Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim[h] into his control, and Othniel’s[i] domination of Cushan-rishathaim was strong. 11 As a result, the land was quiet for 40 years. Then Kenaz’ son Othniel died.
Ehud, Israel’s Second Judge
12 The Israelis again practiced evil in full view of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab in his control over Israel, because they had practiced evil in full view of the Lord. 13 Eglon[j] assembled together the Ammonites and the Amalekites, proceeded to attack Israel, and captured the cities of palms. 14 So the Israelis served king Eglon of Moab for eighteen years.
15 But when the Israelis cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up Gera’s son Ehud, a left-handed descendant of Benjamin, as a deliverer for them. The Israelis paid tribute through him to king Eglon of Moab. 16 Ehud forged a double-edged sword that was one cubit[k] long, tied it to his right thigh under his cloak, 17 and went to present the tribute to King Eglon of Moab. Now Eglon happened to be a very obese man.
18 As he finished presenting the tribute, Ehud[l] sent away the people who had been carrying it. 19 He had turned away from the idols that were at Gilgal. So he told Eglon, “I have a secret message for you, king.”
King Eglon[m] responded “Silence!” and all of his attendants left him.
20 Ehud approached him while he was sitting by himself in the cool roof chamber of his palace.[n] He said, “I have a message from God for you!” So when Eglon[o] got up from his seat, 21 Ehud used his left hand to take the sword from his right thigh and then plunged it into Eglon’s[p] abdomen. 22 The hilt also penetrated along with the sword blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over the blade. Because he did not withdraw the sword from Eglon’s abdomen, the sword point[q] exited from Eglon’s entrails.[r]
23 Then Ehud left the cool chamber in the direction of the vestibule, shutting and locking the doors behind him. 24 After he left, Eglon’s[s] attendants came to look, but the doors to the cool chamber were locked! So they said, “He must be relieving himself[t] in the inner part of the cool chamber.”[u] 25 They waited until they were embarrassed, since he never opened the doors to the chamber. Eventually they took a key, opened the doors, and found their master dead on the ground.
26 Meanwhile, Ehud escaped while they were delayed, passed by the idols, and escaped in the direction of Seirah. 27 When he arrived there, he sounded a trumpet in the mountainous region[v] of Ephraim. While the Israeli army accompanied Ehud from the mountainous regions,[w] 28 he told them, “Attack them, because the Lord has given your enemies—the Moabites—into your control.” So the Israeli army[x] followed after him, seized the fords of the Jordan River opposite Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross. 29 At that time they attacked about 10,000 Moabites, all of whom were strong and valiant men. Not one man escaped. 30 As a result, Moab was subdued under the control of Israel, and the land remained quiet for 80 years.
Shamgar, Israel’s Third Judge
31 After Ehud,[y] Anath’s son Shamgar attacked 600 Philistines with a cattle prod. He also delivered Israel.
Footnotes
- Judges 3:1 The Heb. lacks that is
- Judges 3:3 The Heb. lacks These nations included
- Judges 3:7 Lit. served the Baals and the Ashtaroth
- Judges 3:8 Or Aram of the Two Rivers; i.e. Mesopotamia
- Judges 3:9 Lit. to be a deliverer for; or to be a messiah
- Judges 3:9 Lit. deliver the Israelis
- Judges 3:10 Lit. he
- Judges 3:10 Or Aram of the Two Rivers; i.e. Mesopotamia
- Judges 3:10 Lit. his
- Judges 3:13 Lit. He
- Judges 3:16 I.e. about a foot and a half
- Judges 3:18 Lit. he
- Judges 3:19 Lit. So he
- Judges 3:20 The Heb. lacks of his palace
- Judges 3:20 Lit. he
- Judges 3:21 Lit. his
- Judges 3:22 So LXX. MT reads abdomen, it
- Judges 3:22 Or from behind
- Judges 3:24 Lit. his
- Judges 3:24 Lit. be covering his feet
- Judges 3:24 Or cool area; i.e. a private room (usually on a roof) for residence in warm weather
- Judges 3:27 Or the hill country
- Judges 3:27 Or the hill country
- Judges 3:28 Lit. he
- Judges 3:31 Lit. him
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