Judges 3

1 And these are the nations the Lord left, so as to test Israel by them — all those who had not known the wars of Canaan — 2 only for the sake of the generations of the children of Israel, to teach them war; only those before them had not known these things: 3 the five lordships of the Philistines, and every Canaanite, and the Sidonian, and the Hivite who lived in Lebanon, from Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath. [a] 4 And this was so that Israel might be tested by them, to know whether they would listen to the commands of the Lord, which he charged their fathers by the hand of Moses.

5 And the children of Israel lived in the middle of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, 6 and they took their daughters as wives for themselves, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

7 And the children of Israel did what was evil before the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and the sacred groves. 8 And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Syria of the Rivers; and the children of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. 9 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up a savior for Israel, and he saved them: Othniel son of Kenaz the brother of Caleb, the one younger than he. [b] 10 And the Spirit of the Lord came on him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to war against Cushan-rishathaim, and the Lord handed Cushan-rishathaim king of Syria of the Rivers over into his hand, and his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. 11 And the land had rest forty years; and Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

12 And the children of Israel went on doing what was evil before the Lord; and the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil before the Lord. 13 And he gathered to himself all the children of Ammon and Amalek, and he went and struck Israel, and inherited the city of palm trees. 14 And the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.

15 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; and he raised up a savior for them, Ehud the son of Gera, son of Jemini, a man who used both hands alike. And the children of Israel sent gifts by his hand to Eglon king of Moab. [c] 16 And Ehud made himself a two-edged sword, nine inches long, and he strapped it under his cloak on his right thigh. [d] 17 And he went and brought the gifts to Eglon king of Moab; and Eglon was a very handsome man. [e] 18 And when Ehud had finished presenting the gifts, he sent away the men who had carried them. 19 But he himself turned back from the carved images that are near Gilgal. And Ehud said, “I have a secret word for you, O king.” And Eglon said to him, “Silence.” And he sent away from himself all who were standing by him.

20 And Ehud came in to him; and he was sitting in his own upper summer room, entirely alone. And Ehud said, “I have a word from God for you, O king.” And Eglon rose up from his throne, close to him. 21 And as he was getting up, Ehud stretched out his left hand and took the sword from his right thigh and drove it into his belly, 22 and he pushed the hilt in as well, after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, because he did not pull the sword out of his belly. And Ehud went out to the porch. 23 And he went out past the men posted there, and shut the doors of the upper room on him, and wedged them fast.

24 And he himself went out. And Eglon's servants came in and looked, and there were the doors of the upper room wedged fast. And they said, “Is he perhaps relieving himself in the summer room?” 25 And they waited until they were ashamed, and still there was no one opening the doors of the upper room; and they took the key and opened them, and there was their lord fallen on the ground, dead. 26 And Ehud got away while they were in confusion, and there was no one paying attention to him; and he passed the carved images and got away to Seirah.

27 And when Ehud came into the land of Israel, he blew the horn in Mount Ephraim; and the children of Israel came down with him from the mountain, and he was in front of them. 28 And he said to them, “Come down after me, because the Lord God has handed our enemies, Moab, over into our hand.” And they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan belonging to Moab, and he did not let a man cross over. 29 And they struck Moab that day, about ten thousand men, every well-fed man and every man of strength; and not a man got away. 30 So Moab was put to shame that day under the hand of Israel; and the land had rest eighty years. And Ehud judged them until he died.

31 And after him rose up Shamgar the son of Dinach, and he struck down six hundred men of the Philistines with the plowshare of the oxen; and he too saved Israel. [f]