Judges 3:1–31

¹Now these are the nations that Jehovah let stay so as by them to test Israel, that is, all those who had not experienced any of the wars of Ca′naan;²it was only in order for the generations of the sons of Israel to have the experience, so as to teach them war, that is, only those who before that had not experienced such things:³The five axis lords of the Phi‧lis′tines, and all the Ca′naan‧ites, even the Si‧do′ni‧ans and the Hi′vites inhabiting Mount Leb′a‧non from Mount Ba′al‐her′mon as far as to the entering in of Ha′math.⁴And they kept serving as agents to test Israel so as to know whether they would obey Jehovah’s commandments that he had commanded their fathers by means of Moses.⁵And the sons of Israel dwelt in among the Ca′naan‧ites, the Hit′tites and the Am′or‧ites and the Per′iz‧zites and the Hi′vites and the Jeb′u‧sites.⁶And they proceeded to take their daughters as wives for themselves, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they took up serving their gods.

⁷So the sons of Israel did what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, and they were forgetful of Jehovah their God and went serving the Ba′als and the sacred poles.⁸At this Jehovah’s anger blazed against Israel, so that he sold them into the hand of Cu′shan‐rish‧a‧tha′im the king of Mes‧o‧po‧ta′mi‧a; and the sons of Israel continued to serve Cu′shan‐rish‧a‧tha′im eight years.⁹And the sons of Israel began to call to Jehovah for aid. Then Jehovah raised a savior up for the sons of Israel that he might save them, Oth′ni‧el the son of Ke′naz, the younger brother of Ca′leb.¹⁰The spirit of Jehovah now came upon him, and he became the judge of Israel. When he went out to battle, then Jehovah gave Cu′shan‐rish‧a‧tha′im the king of Syria into his hand so that his hand overpowered Cu′shan‐rish‧a‧tha′im.¹¹After that the land had no disturbance for forty years. Eventually Oth′ni‧el the son of Ke′naz died.

¹²And once again the sons of Israel went doing what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes. At that Jehovah let Eg′lon the king of Mo′ab grow strong against Israel, because they did what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes.¹³Furthermore, he gathered against them the sons of Am′mon and Am′a‧lek. Then they went and struck Israel and took possession of the city of palm trees.¹⁴And the sons of Israel continued to serve Eg′lon the king of Mo′ab eighteen years.¹⁵And the sons of Israel began to call to Jehovah for aid. So Jehovah raised up for them a savior, E′hud the son of Ge′ra, a Ben′ja‧mite, a left‐handed man. In time the sons of Israel sent tribute by his hand to Eg′lon the king of Mo′ab.¹⁶Meanwhile E′hud made a sword for himself, and it had two edges, its length being a cubit. Then he girded it underneath his garment upon his right thigh.¹⁷And he proceeded to present the tribute to Eg′lon the king of Mo′ab. Now Eg′lon was a very fat man.

¹⁸And it came about that when he had finished presenting the tribute, he at once sent the people away, the bearers of the tribute.¹⁹And he himself turned back at the quarries that were at Gil′gal, and he proceeded to say: “I have a secret word for you, O king.” So he said: “Keep silence!” With that all those who were standing by him went on out from him.²⁰And E′hud came to him as he was sitting in his cool roof chamber that he had to himself. And E′hud went on to say: “A word of God I have for you.” At that he rose up from his throne.²¹Then E′hud thrust in his left hand and took the sword off his right thigh and plunged it into his belly.²²And the handle kept going in also after the blade so that the fat closed in over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, and the fecal matter began to come out.²³And E′hud proceeded to go out through the air hole, but he closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.²⁴And he himself went out.

And his servants came and began looking, and there the doors of the roof chamber were locked. So they said: “He is just easing nature in the cool interior room.”²⁵And they kept waiting until they were ashamed, and, look! there was no one opening the doors of the roof chamber. At this they took the key and opened them, and, look! their lord was fallen to the earth dead!

²⁶As for E′hud, he escaped while they were lingering, and he himself passed by the quarries and made his escape to Se‧i′rah.²⁷And it came about that when he got there he began blowing the horn in the mountainous region of E′phra‧im; and the sons of Israel began going down with him out of the mountainous region, he being at their head.²⁸Then he said to them: “Follow me, because Jehovah has given ​YOUR​ enemies, the Mo′ab‧ites, into ​YOUR​ hand.” And they went following him and got to capture the fords of the Jordan against the Mo′ab‧ites, and they did not allow anybody to pass over.²⁹And at that time they went striking down Mo′ab, about ten thousand men, every one robust and every one a valiant man; and not a single one escaped.³⁰And Mo′ab came to be subdued on that day under Israel’s hand; and the land had no further disturbance for eighty years.

³¹And after him there proved to be Sham′gar the son of A′nath, and he went striking down the Phi‧lis′tines, six hundred men, with a cattle goad; and he too got to save Israel.