The Nations Remaining in the Land

3 Now these are ^(A)the nations which the Lord left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not ^[a]known any of the wars in Canaan ² (this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it), ³ namely, ^(B)five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. ⁴ And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to ^[b]know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

^5 (C)Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁶ And ^(D)they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods.

Othniel

⁷ So the children of Israel did ^(E)evil in the sight of the Lord. They ^(F)forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and ^[c]Asherahs. ⁸ Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He ^(G)sold them into the hand of ^(H)Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years. ⁹ When the children of Israel ^(I)cried out to the Lord, the Lord ^(J)raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who delivered them: ^(K)Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. ^10 (L)The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-Rishathaim. ¹¹ So the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

^12 (M)And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened ^(N)Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³ Then he gathered to himself the people of Ammon and ^(O)Amalek, went and ^[d]defeated Israel, and took possession of ^(P)the City of Palms. ¹⁴ So the children of Israel ^(Q)served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵ But when the children of Israel ^(R)cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a ^(S)left-handed man. By him the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon king of Moab. ¹⁶ Now Ehud made himself a dagger (it was double-edged and a cubit in length) and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh. ¹⁷ So he brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.) ¹⁸ And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. ¹⁹ But he himself turned back ^(T)from the ^[e]stone images that were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.”

He said, “Keep silence!” And all who attended him went out from him.

²⁰ So Ehud came to him (now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber). Then Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” So he arose from his seat. ²¹ Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. ²² Even the ^[f]hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out. ²³ Then Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

²⁴ When he had gone out, ^[g]Eglon’s servants came to look, and to their surprise, the doors of the upper room were locked. So they said, “He is probably ^(U)attending^[h] to his needs in the cool chamber.” ²⁵ So they waited till they were ^(V)embarrassed, and still he had not opened the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them. And there was their master, fallen dead on the floor.

²⁶ But Ehud had escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the ^[i]stone images and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷ And it happened, when he arrived, that ^(W)he blew the trumpet in the ^(X)mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains; and ^[j]he led them. ²⁸ Then he said to them, “Follow me, for ^(Y)the Lord has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him, seized the ^(Z)fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. ²⁹ And at that time they killed about ten thousand men of Moab, all stout men of valor; not a man escaped. ³⁰ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And ^(AA)the land had rest for eighty years.

Shamgar

³¹ After him was ^(AB)Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines ^(AC)with an ox goad; ^(AD)and he also delivered ^(AE)Israel.