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
Easy-to-Read Version
3 The Lord did not force all the other nations to leave Israel’s land. He wanted to test the Israelites. None of the Israelites living at this time had fought in the wars to take the land of Canaan. So he let those other nations stay in their country. (He did this to teach the Israelites who had not fought in those wars.) These are the nations the Lord left in the land: 3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the people of Sidon, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 4 He left those nations in the land to test the Israelites. He wanted to see if the Israelites would obey the Lord’s commands that he had given to their ancestors through Moses.
5 The Israelites lived with the Canaanites, Hittites, the Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 6 The Israelites began to marry the daughters of those people. They allowed their own daughters to marry the sons of those people. The Israelites also began to worship their gods.
Othniel, the First Judge
7 The Lord saw that the Israelites did evil things. They forgot about the Lord their God and served the false gods Baal and Asherah. 8 The Lord was angry with the Israelites, so he allowed King Cushan Rishathaim of Aram Naharaim[a] to defeat the Israelites and to rule over them. The Israelites were under that king’s rule for eight years. 9 But the Israelites cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent a man named Othniel to save them. He was the son of Kenaz, who was Caleb’s younger brother. Othniel saved the Israelites. 10 The Spirit of the Lord filled Othniel, and he became a judge for the Israelites. He led the Israelites to war. The Lord helped Othniel defeat King Cushan Rishathaim of Aram. 11 So the land was at peace for 40 years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.
Ehud, the Judge
12 Again the Israelites did things the Lord considered evil, and the Lord saw them doing these things. So the Lord gave King Eglon of Moab power to defeat the Israelites. 13 Eglon got help from the Ammonites and the Amalekites. They joined him and attacked the Israelites. Eglon and his army defeated the Israelites and forced them to leave the City of Palm Trees.[b] 14 King Eglon of Moab ruled over the Israelites for 18 years.
15 The Israelites cried to the Lord for help, so he sent a man named Ehud son of Gera to save them. Ehud was from the tribe of Benjamin and was trained to fight with his left hand. The Israelites sent Ehud with a gift to King Eglon of Moab. 16 Ehud made himself a sword with two sharp edges that was about 12 inches[c] long. He tied the sword to his right thigh and hid it under his uniform.
17 So Ehud brought the gift to King Eglon of Moab. Eglon was a very fat man. 18 After offering the gift, Ehud left the palace with the men who had carried the gift. 19 When Ehud reached the statues[d] near Gilgal, he turned and went back to King Eglon and said, “King, I have a secret message for you.”
The king told him to be quiet and then sent all the servants out of the room. 20 Ehud went to King Eglon. The king was sitting all alone in the upper room of his palace.
Then Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” The king stood up from his throne. He was very close to Ehud. 21 As the king was getting up from his throne,[e] Ehud reached with his left hand and took out the sword that was tied to his right thigh. Then he pushed the sword into the king’s belly. 22 The sword went into Eglon’s belly so far that even the handle sank in and the fat closed around it. The point of the blade came out his back. Ehud left the sword inside Eglon.
23 Then Ehud went out of the private room, closed the doors to the upper room, and locked the king inside. 24 Ehud then left the main room, and the servants went back in. The servants found the doors to the upper room locked, so they said, “The king must be relieving himself in his private toilet.” 25 The servants waited for a long time, but the king never opened the doors to the upper room. Finally, the servants got worried. They got the key and unlocked the doors. When the servants entered, they saw their king lying dead on the floor.
26 While the servants were waiting for the king, Ehud had time to escape. He passed by the statues and went toward the place named Seirah. 27 When Ehud came to Seirah, he blew a trumpet there in the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites heard the trumpet and went down from the hills with Ehud leading them. 28 He said to the Israelites, “Follow me! The Lord has helped us defeat our enemies, the Moabites.”
So the Israelites followed Ehud. They went down with him to take control of the places where people could easily cross the Jordan River into the land of Moab. The Israelites did not allow any one to go across the Jordan River. 29 They killed about 10,000 strong and brave men from Moab. Not one Moabite man escaped. 30 So on that day the Israelites began to rule over the Moabites, and there was peace in the land for 80 years.
Shamgar, the Judge
31 After Ehud saved the Israelites, another man saved Israel. That man’s name was Shamgar son of Anath.[f] Shamgar used an ox goad to kill 600 Philistine men.
Footnotes
- Judges 3:8 Aram Naharaim The area in northern Syria between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
- Judges 3:13 City of Palm Trees Another name for Jericho.
- Judges 3:16 12 inches Or 30 cm. Literally, “1 gomed,” probably equivalent to 2/3 of a cubit.
- Judges 3:19 statues These were probably statues of gods or animals that “protected” the entrance to the city. Also in verse 26.
- Judges 3:21 He was very close … throne This section of the text is found in the ancient Greek version but not in the standard Hebrew text.
- Judges 3:31 Anath The Canaanite goddess of war. Here, this might be Shamgar’s father or mother, or it might mean “Shamgar the great soldier” or “Shamgar from the town of Anath.”
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