Ehud became their next leader

12 After that, the Israelis again did things that Yahweh said were very evil. As a result, he allowed the army of King Eglon, who ruled the Moab area, to defeat the Israelis. 13 Eglon persuaded the leaders of the Ammon and Amalek people-groups to join their armies with his army to attack Israel. They captured Jericho, which was called ‘The City of Palm Trees’. 14 Then King Eglon ruled the Israelis for eighteen years.

15 But then the Israelis again pleaded to Yahweh to help them. So he gave them another leader to rescue them. He was Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera, from the descendants of Benjamin. The Israelis sent him to King Eglon to give him their yearly protection money. 16 Ehud had with him a double-edged dagger, about a foot and a half long. He strapped it to his right thigh, under his clothes. 17 He gave the money to King Eglon, who was a very fat man. 18 Then Ehud started to go back home with the men who had carried the money. 19 When they arrived at the stone carvings near Gilgal, he told the other men to go on, but he himself turned around and went back to the king of Moab. When he arrived at the palace, he said to the king, “Your majesty, I have a secret message for you.” So the king told all his servants to be quiet, and sent them out of the room.

20 Then, as Eglon was sitting alone in the upstairs room of his summer palace, Ehud came close to him and said, “I have a message for you from God.” As the king got up from his chair, 21 Ehud reached with his left hand and pulled the dagger from his right thigh, and plunged it into the king’s belly. 22 He thrust it in so far that the handle went into the king’s belly, and the blade came out the king’s back. Ehud did not pull the dagger out. He left it there, with the handle buried in the king’s fat. 23 Then Ehud left the room. He went out to the porch. He shut the doors to the room and locked them.

24 After he had gone, King Eglon’s servants came back, but they saw that the doors of the room were locked. They said, “The king must be defecating in the inner room.” 25 So they waited, but when the king did not open the doors of the room, after a while they were worried. They got a key and unlocked the doors. And they saw that their king was lying on the floor, dead.

26 Meanwhile, Ehud escaped. He passed by the stone carvings and arrived at Seirah, in the hilly area where the descendants of Ephraim lived. 27 There he blew a trumpet to signal that the people should join him to fight the people of Moab. So the Israelis went with him from the hills. They went down toward the Jordan river, with Ehud leading them.

28 He said to the men, “Yahweh is going to allow us to defeat your enemies, the people of Moab. So follow me!” So they followed him down to the river, and they stationed some of their men at the place where people can walk across the river, in order that they could kill any people from Moab who tried to cross the river to escape. 29 At that time, the Israelis killed about 10,000 people from Moab. They were all strong and capable men, but not one of them escaped. 30 On that day, the Israelis conquered the people of Moab. Then there was peace in their land for 80 years.