Judges 3

Modern

Literal

Nations Left to Test Israel

¹These are the nations that the LORD left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan,

¹And these are the nations that YHWH left, that He might test by them Israel, all who had not known any of the wars of Canaan,

²if only to teach warfare to the subsequent generations of Israel, especially to those who had not known it formerly:

²only so that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught to know war, only those who formerly had not known it:

³the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.

³Five princes of the Philistines, and all the Canaanite, and the Sidonian, and the Hivite that dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.

⁴These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out whether they would keep the commandments of the LORD, which He had given their fathers through Moses.

⁴And they were to test by them Israel, to know whether they would heed the commandments of YHWH, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

⁵Thus the Israelites continued to live among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

⁵And the sons of Israel dwelt among the Canaanite, the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

⁶And they took the daughters of these people in marriage, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

⁶And they took their daughters to be their wives, and they gave their daughters to their sons, and they served their gods.

Othniel

⁷So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.

⁷And the sons of Israel did evil in the eyes of YHWH, and they forgot YHWH their God, and they served the Baals and the Asherahs.

⁸Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim,^a and the Israelites served him eight years.

⁸And the anger of YHWH was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.

⁹But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, He raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz as a deliverer to save them.

⁹And the sons of Israel cried out to YHWH, and YHWH raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel, and he delivered them—Othniel son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb—from it.

¹⁰The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge and went out to war. And the LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into the hand of Othniel, who prevailed against him.

¹⁰And the Spirit of YHWH came upon him, and he judged Israel and he went out to war. And YHWH delivered into his hand Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram, and his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.

¹¹So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

¹¹And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

¹²Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹²And the sons of Israel again did evil in the eyes of YHWH, and YHWH strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because that they had done evil in the eyes of YHWH.

¹³After enlisting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join forces with him, Eglon attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms.^a

¹³And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek, and they went and defeated Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms.

¹⁴The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁴And the sons of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

¹⁵And the sons of Israel cried out to YHWH, and YHWH raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud son of Gera the Benjamite, a man impeded in his right hand. And the sons of Israel sent by his hand tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

¹⁶Now Ehud had made for himself a double-edged sword a cubit long.^a He strapped it to his right thigh under his cloak

¹⁶And Ehud made himself a dagger, and it had two edges a cubit in length. And he fastened it under his cloak on his right thigh.

¹⁷and brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was an obese man.

¹⁷And he brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. And Eglon was a very fat man.

¹⁸After Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he ushered out those who had carried it.

¹⁸And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried the tribute.

¹⁹But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.”

“Silence,” said the king, and all his attendants left him.

¹⁹And he himself turned back from the stone images that were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And He said, “Silence!” And all attending him went out from him.

²⁰Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the coolness of his upper room. “I have a word from God for you,” Ehud said, and the king rose from his seat.

²⁰And Ehud came to him, and he was sitting in the cool upper chamber, which was private to him. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from the throne.

²¹And Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly.

²¹And Ehud reached with his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.

²²Even the handle sank in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And Eglon’s bowels emptied.

²²And the hilt even 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 excrement came out.

²³Then Ehud went out through the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upper room behind him.

²³And Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

²⁴After Ehud was gone, Eglon’s servants came in and found the doors of the upper room locked. “He must be relieving himself in the cool room,” they said.

²⁴And he had gone out, and Eglon’s servants came and looked. And behold, the doors of the upper room were locked. And they said, “He is only covering his feet in the cool inner chamber.”

²⁵So they waited until they became worried and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upper room. Then they took the key and opened the doors—and there was their lord lying dead on the floor.

²⁵And they waited until they felt ashamed, and still he had not opened the doors of the upper room. And they took the key and opened them, and behold, their master was fallen on the floor dead.

²⁶Ehud, however, had escaped while the servants waited. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah.

²⁶And Ehud had escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the stone images and escaped to Seirah.

²⁷On arriving in Seirah, he blew the ram’s horn throughout the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites came down with him from the hills, and he became their leader.

²⁷And it came to pass when he arrived, that he blew on the shofar in the hill country of Ephraim, and went down with him the sons of Israel from the hills, and he was before their faces.

²⁸“Follow me,” he told them, “for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.”

So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and they did not allow anyone to cross over.

²⁸And he said to them, “Follow after me, for YHWH has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hands.” And they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to pass over.

²⁹At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men. Not one of them escaped.

²⁹And they struck down at that time about ten thousand men of Moab, all stout and men of valor, and not a man escaped.

³⁰So Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had rest for eighty years.

³⁰And Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.

Shamgar

³¹After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.

³¹And after him was Shamgar son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an oxgoad. And he also delivered Israel.