Judges 3-4

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 3

¹ These are the nations the Lord allowed to remain, so that through them he might test Israel, all those who had not experienced any of the Canaanite wars— ² to teach warfare to those generations of Israelites who had never experienced it: ^3 (A)the five lords of the Philistines,^[a] and all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountain region of the Lebanon between Baal-hermon and Lebo-hamath. ⁴ These served as a test for Israel, to know whether they would obey the commandments the Lord had enjoined on their ancestors through Moses. ⁵ So the Israelites settled among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.^{(B) 6} They took their daughters in marriage, and gave their own daughters to their sons in marriage,^(C) and served their gods.

II. Stories of the Judges

Othniel. ^7 (D)Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; they forgot the Lord, their God, and served the Baals and the Asherahs,^{[b] 8} and the anger of the Lord flared up against them. He sold them into the power of Cushan-rishathaim,^[c] king of Aram Naharaim; and the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years. ⁹ But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord,^(E) he raised up a savior for them, to save them. It was Othniel, son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz.^{(F) 10} The spirit of the Lord came upon him,^(G) and he judged Israel. When he marched out to war, the Lord delivered Cushan-rishathaim, king of Aram, into his power, and his hold on Cushan-rishathaim was firm. ¹¹ So the land was at rest for forty years,^(H) until Othniel, son of Kenaz, died.

Ehud. ¹² Again the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so he strengthened Eglon, king of Moab, against Israel because they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³ Taking the Ammonites and Amalek as allies, he went and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms. ¹⁴ So the Israelites served Eglon, king of Moab, for eighteen years.

¹⁵ But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a savior, Ehud, son of Gera, a Benjaminite who was left-handed.^[d] The Israelites would send their tribute to Eglon, king of Moab, by him. ¹⁶ Ehud made himself a two-edged dagger a foot long, and strapped it under his clothes on his right thigh. ¹⁷ He presented the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab; now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸ When he had finished presenting the tribute, he dismissed the troops who had carried the tribute. ¹⁹ But he himself turned back at the sculptured stones near Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And the king said, “Silence!” Then when all his attendants had left his presence, ²⁰ Ehud went in to him where he sat alone in his cool upper room. Ehud said, “I have a word from God for you.” So the king rose from his throne. ²¹ Then Ehud with his left hand drew the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into Eglon’s belly. ²² The hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade because he did not withdraw the dagger from the body.

²³ Then Ehud went out onto the porch, shutting the doors of the upper room on Eglon and locking them. ²⁴ When Ehud had left and the servants had come, they saw that the doors of the upper room were locked, and thought, “He must be easing himself in the cool chamber.” ²⁵ They waited until they were at a loss when he did not open the doors of the upper room. So they took the key and opened them, and there was their lord lying on the floor, dead.

²⁶ During their delay Ehud escaped and, passing the sculptured stones, took refuge in Seirah. ²⁷ On his arrival he sounded the horn in the mountain region of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down from the mountains with him as their leader. ²⁸ “Follow me,” he said to them, “for the Lord has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your power.”^(I) So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, permitting no one to cross. ²⁹ On that occasion they slew about ten thousand Moabites, all of them strong warriors. Not one escaped. ³⁰ So Moab was brought under the power of Israel^(J) at that time; and the land had rest for eighty years.^(K)

Shamgar. ³¹ After him there was Shamgar,^[e] son of Anath,^(L) who slew six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.^(M) He, too, was a savior for Israel.

Chapter 4

Deborah and Barak. ^1 (N)The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; Ehud was dead. ² So the Lord sold them into the power of the Canaanite king, Jabin, who reigned in Hazor. The general of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim.^{(O) 3 (P)}But the Israelites cried out to the Lord; for with his nine hundred iron chariots Jabin harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

⁴ At that time the prophet Deborah, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. ⁵ She used to sit under Deborah’s palm tree, between Ramah and Bethel in the mountain region of Ephraim, where the Israelites came up to her for judgment. ⁶ She had Barak, son of Abinoam,^(Q) summoned from Kedesh of Naphtali. She said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, commands: Go, march against Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun. ⁷ I will draw Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, out to you at the Wadi Kishon,^(R) together with his chariots and troops, and I will deliver them into your power.” ⁸ But Barak answered her, “If you come with me, I will go; if you do not come with me, I will not go.” ⁹ “I will certainly go with you,” she replied, “but you will not gain glory for the expedition on which you are setting out, for it is into a woman’s power that the Lord is going to sell Sisera.” So Deborah arose and went with Barak and journeyed with him to Kedesh.

¹⁰ Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men followed him.^(S) Deborah also went up with him. ^11 [f]Now Heber the Kenite had detached himself from Cain, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law,^(T) and had pitched his tent by the terebinth of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.

¹² It was reported to Sisera that Barak, son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor. ¹³ So Sisera called out all nine hundred of his iron chariots and all his forces from Harosheth-ha-goiim to the Wadi Kishon. ¹⁴ Deborah then said to Barak, “Up! This is the day on which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your power. The Lord marches before you.” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by his ten thousand men. ¹⁵ And the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and forces into a panic before Barak.^(U) Sisera himself dismounted from his chariot and fled on foot, ¹⁶ but Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-ha-goiim. The entire army of Sisera fell beneath the sword, not even one man surviving.

¹⁷ Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the family of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside with me; do not be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a rug. ¹⁹ He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink. I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and then covered him.^{(V) 20} “Stand at the entrance of the tent,” he said to her. “If anyone comes and asks, ‘Is there someone here?’ say, ‘No!’” ²¹ Jael, wife of Heber, got a tent peg and took a mallet in her hand. When Sisera was in a deep sleep from exhaustion, she approached him stealthily and drove the peg through his temple and down into the ground, and he died.^{(W) 22} Then when Barak came in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg through his temple.

²³ Thus on that day God humbled the Canaanite king, Jabin, before the Israelites; ²⁴ their power weighed ever more heavily on him, until at length they finished off the Canaanite king, Jabin.