Judges 3
The Message
3 1-4 These are the nations that God left there, using them to test the Israelites who had no experience in the Canaanite wars. He did it to train the descendants of Israel, the ones who had no battle experience, in the art of war. He left the five Philistine tyrants, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon to Hamath’s Pass. They were there to test Israel and see whether they would obey God’s commands that were given to their parents through Moses.
5-6 But the People of Israel made themselves at home among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. They married their daughters and gave their own daughters to their sons in marriage. And they worshiped their gods.
Othniel
7-8 The People of Israel did evil in God’s sight. They forgot their God and worshiped the Baal gods and Asherah goddesses. God’s hot anger blazed against Israel. He sold them off to Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim. The People of Israel were in servitude to Cushan-Rishathaim for eight years.
9-10 The People of Israel cried out to God and God raised up a savior who rescued them: Caleb’s nephew Othniel, son of his younger brother Kenaz. The Spirit of God came on him and he rallied Israel. He went out to war and God gave him Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim. Othniel made short work of him.
11 The land was quiet for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.
Ehud
12-14 But the People of Israel went back to doing evil in God’s sight. So God made Eglon king of Moab a power against Israel because they did evil in God’s sight. He recruited the Ammonites and Amalekites and went out and struck Israel. They took the City of Palms. The People of Israel were in servitude to Eglon fourteen years.
15-19 The People of Israel cried out to God and God raised up for them a savior, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjaminite. He was left-handed. The People of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon king of Moab. Ehud made himself a short two-edged sword and strapped it on his right thigh under his clothes. He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Eglon was grossly fat. After Ehud finished presenting the tribute, he went a little way with the men who had carried it. But when he got as far as the stone images near Gilgal, he went back and said, “I have a private message for you, O King.”
The king told his servants, “Leave.” They all left.
20-24 Ehud approached him—the king was now quite alone in his cool rooftop room—and said, “I have a word of God for you.” Eglon stood up from his throne. Ehud reached with his left hand and took his sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s big belly. Not only the blade but the hilt went in. The fat closed in over it so he couldn’t pull it out. Ehud slipped out by way of the porch and shut and locked the doors of the rooftop room behind him. Then he was gone.
When the servants came, they saw with surprise that the doors to the rooftop room were locked. They said, “He’s probably relieving himself in the restroom.”
25 They waited. And then they worried—no one was coming out of those locked doors. Finally, they got a key and unlocked them. There was their master, fallen on the floor, dead!
26-27 While they were standing around wondering what to do, Ehud was long gone. He got past the stone images and escaped to Seirah. When he got there, he sounded the trumpet on Mount Ephraim. The People of Israel came down from the hills and joined him. He took his place at their head.
28 He said, “Follow me, for God has given your enemies—yes, Moab!—to you.” They went down after him and secured the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites. They let no one cross over.
29-30 At that time, they struck down about ten companies of Moabites, all of them well-fed and robust. Not one escaped. That day Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel.
The land was quiet for eighty years.
Shamgar
31 Shamgar son of Anath came after Ehud. Using a cattle prod, he killed six hundred Philistines single-handed. He too saved Israel.
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.
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
Complete Jewish Bible
3 These are the nations which Adonai allowed to remain, in order to put to the test all the people of Isra’el who had not known any of the wars with Kena‘an. 2 This was only so that the generations of Isra’el who had previously known nothing of war might learn about it. 3 These nations consisted of the five chiefs of the P’lishtim, all the Kena‘ani, the Tzidoni, and the Hivi who lived in the hills of the L’vanon between Mount Ba‘al-Hermon and the entrance to Hamat. 4 They stayed there to test whether Isra’el would pay attention to the mitzvot of Adonai, which, through Moshe, he had ordered their ancestors to obey. 5 So the people of Isra’el lived among the Kena‘ani, Hitti, Emori, P’rizi, Hivi and Y’vusi; 6 taking their daughters as their wives, giving their own daughters to their sons and serving their gods.
7 Thus the people of Isra’el did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, forgot Adonai their God, and served the ba‘alim and asherim. 8 Therefore the anger of Adonai blazed against Isra’el, and he gave them over into the hands of Kushan-Rish‘atayim king of Aram-Naharayim; and the people of Isra’el served Kushan-Rish‘atayim eight years. 9 But when the people of Isra’el cried out to Adonai, Adonai raised up a savior for the people of Isra’el; and he rescued them; this was ‘Otni’el, the son of Kalev’s younger brother K’naz. 10 The spirit of Adonai came upon him, and he judged Isra’el. Then he went out to war, and Adonai gave Kushan-Rish‘atayim king of Aram into his hands; his power prevailed against Kushan-Rish‘atayim. 11 So the land had rest for forty years, until ‘Otni’el the son of K’naz died.
12 But the people of Isra’el again did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, so Adonai strengthened ‘Eglon the king of Mo’av against Isra’el, because they had done what was evil from Adonai’s perspective. 13 In confederation with the people of ‘Amon and ‘Amalek, ‘Eglon went out and defeated Isra’el, capturing the City of Date-Palms; 14 and the people of Isra’el served ‘Eglon the king of Mo’av eighteen years.
15 But when the people of Isra’el cried out to Adonai, Adonai raised up for them a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, from the tribe of Binyamin, a left-handed man. The people of Isra’el appointed him to take their tribute to ‘Eglon the king of Mo’av. 16 Ehud made himself a double-edged sword eighteen inches long and strapped it to his right thigh under his clothes. 17 Then he presented the tribute to ‘Eglon king of Mo’av. Now ‘Eglon was a very fat man. 18 When he had finished presenting the tribute, he dismissed the people who had brought it. 19 But he himself, after reaching the quarries at Gilgal, went back and said, “King, I have a secret message for you.” The king commanded silence, and all his attendants withdrew. 20 Ehud came to him; he was sitting alone by himself in his upstairs room, where it was cool. Ehud said: “I have a message from God for you.” As the king arose from his seat, 21 Ehud reached out with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into the king’s belly. 22 The hilt too went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, so that it came out behind. 23 Then Ehud went out onto the porch, shut the doors of the upstairs room behind him and locked them. 24 After Ehud had left, the king’s servants came. Seeing that the doors of the upper room were locked, they said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner part of the cool room.” 25 They waited until they became embarrassed, but he still didn’t open the doors of the upstairs room. So they took the key and opened them; and there before them lay their master, dead on the ground.
26 But while they were delaying, Ehud escaped — he passed beyond the quarries and arrived safely in Se‘irah. 27 Upon arrival in the hills of Efrayim, he began sounding the call on the shofar; and the people of Isra’el went down with him from the hill-country; he himself took the lead. 28 He said to them: “Follow me, because Adonai has given your enemy Mo’av into your hands. They went down after him, seized the fords of the Yarden opposite Mo’av and permitted no one to cross. 29 On that occasion they defeated Mo’av, some ten thousand men, all tough, experienced soldiers; not one of them escaped. 30 Thus was Mo’av subdued that day under the power of Isra’el. Then the land had rest for eighty years.
31 After Ehud came Shamgar the son of ‘Anat, who killed 600 P’lishtim with an oxgoad; and he too rescued Isra’el.
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