OET-RV JDG Chapter 3

3 The following are the kingdoms which Yahweh allowed to remain so as to test the newer generations of Israel who hadn’t experienced the battles in Canaan 2 (if only for the sake of teaching warfare to those generations who hadn’t experienced it): 3 the five Philistine rulers and the Canaanites, the Sidonians, the Hivites that live on Mt. Lebanon between Mt. Baal-Hermon and Lebo-Hamat.[fn] 4 They were left to test Israel to find out if they would obey Yahweh’s instructions that had been given through Mosheh to their ancestors, 5 and so the Israelis lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Yebusites. 6 They took their daughters as wives, and gave their own daughters to be married to their sons, and they worshipped their gods.

7 So the Israelis did things considered evil by Yahweh and they forgot about their god Yahweh, instead serving the Baal and Asherot idols. 8 Because of that, Yahweh was very angry with Israel, so he handed them over to King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram-Naharaim (Mesopotamia). The Israelis served him for eight years 9 but when they cried out to Yahweh, he sent them a leader to rescue them: Otniel, son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz. 10 Yahweh’s spirit empowered him and he led Israel. He led them into battle against King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram, and Yahweh helped them defeat him. 11 So the region had peace for forty years, and then Otniel (Kenaz’s son) died.

12 Once again the Israelis started doing things considered evil by Yahweh, so because of that, he strengthened King Eglon of Moab against Israel. 13 King Eglon enlisted warriors from the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and they attacked Israel and captured Yericho, the city of palm trees, 14 so the Israelis served him for eighteen years.

15 But the Israelis cried out to Yahweh, he sent them a leader to rescue them: the left-hander Ehud, son of Gera the Benyamite. The Israelis sent him to carry the tribute payment to King Eglon of Moab. 16 Now Ehud had made himself a double-edged sword—a short one about half a metre long—and he strapped it to his right thigh beneath his clothes. 17 Then he presented the tribute to King Eglon of Moab, who was a very fat man, 18 and after leaving for home, he sent off the people who’d actually carried it all. 19 Then from the stone quarries that they’d reached near Gilgal, he returned and told the king that he had a private message for him. The king told his attendants to be quiet then sent them out of the room.

20 So Ehud approached where the king was sitting alone in the coolness of his upper room and told him, “I have a message for you from God.” The king stood up from his seat 21 and then Ehud reached with his left hand and pulled the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly. 22 Even the handle went in after the blade and the fat closed up over the handle because Ehud didn’t pull the sword out of his belly. Then he went out to the passage[fn] 23 and closed and locked the rooms of the upper room and exited through the porch.[fn] 24 After he’d left, the servants came and found the doors locked, so they thought the king must be relieving himself in there. 25 They waited until they became worried that he hadn’t opened the doors, so they got a key and opened them, only to find their master lying dead on the floor.

26 While the servants had been waiting, Ehud had escaped and passed beyond the quarries, then fleeing to Seirah. 27 When he got there, he blew a trumpet throughout the Efraimite hill country, and so the Israelis assembled under his direction down in the valley. 28 “Follow after me,” he told them, “because Yahweh will enable you all to defeat your enemies, the Moabites.” So they followed him down to the Yordan river and captured the fords opposite Moab, thus preventing anyone from crossing. 29 Then they attacked Moab and killed around ten thousand men—all strong and capable yet none of them escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day by the Israelis, and there was peace in the region for eighty years.

31 After Ehud came Shamgar (Anat’s son), and he rescued Israel by killing six hundred Philistines with a cattle prod.