Idolatry Leads to Servitude

3 ^(A)Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is, all the Israelites who had not ^[a]experienced any of the wars of Canaan; ² only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might ^[b]be taught war, ^[c]those who had not ^[d]experienced it previously). ³ These nations are: the five governors of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians, and ^(B)the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as ^[e]Lebo-hamath. ⁴ They were left to ^(C)test Israel by them, to find out if they would ^[f]obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers ^[g]through Moses. ^5 (D)The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; ⁶ and ^(E)they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

⁷ So the sons of Israel did ^(F)what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they ^(G)forgot the Lord their God and ^(H)served the Baals and the ^[h]Asheroth. ⁸ Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, so that He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim, king of ^[i]Mesopotamia; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years.

The First Judge Frees Israel

⁹ But the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to set them free, ^(I)Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. ¹⁰ And ^(J)the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. When he went to war, the Lord handed over to him Cushan-rishathaim king of ^[j]Mesopotamia, so that ^[k]he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. ¹¹ Then the land was at rest for forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

¹² Now the sons of Israel again ^(K)did evil in the sight of the Lord. So ^(L)the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³ And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and ^[l]defeated Israel, and they took possession of ^(M)the city of the palm trees. ¹⁴ And the sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab for eighteen years.

Ehud Kills Eglon

¹⁵ But when the sons of Israel ^(N)cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by ^[m]him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶ Now Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length, and he strapped it on his right thigh under his cloak. ¹⁷ Then he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸ And it came about, when he had finished presenting the tribute, that Ehud sent away the people who had carried the tribute. ¹⁹ But he himself turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And the king said, “Silence!” And all who were attending him left him. ²⁰ Then Ehud came to him while he was sitting in his cool roof chamber alone. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he got up from his seat. ²¹ Then Ehud reached out with his left hand and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. ²² The hilt of the sword also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade because he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and ^[n]the refuse came out. ²³ Then Ehud went out into the ^[o]vestibule, and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him, and locked them.

²⁴ When he had left, ^[p]the king’s servants came and looked, and behold, the doors of the roof chamber were locked; and they said, “^(O)Undoubtedly he is ^[q]relieving himself in the cool room.” ²⁵ So they waited ^[r]until it would have been shameful to wait longer; but behold, he did not open the doors of the roof chamber. So they took the key and opened them, and behold, their master had fallen to the ^[s]floor dead.

²⁶ Now Ehud escaped while they were hesitating, and he passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷ And ^[t]when he arrived, ^(P)he blew the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was ^[u]leading them. ²⁸ Then he said to them, “Pursue them, for the Lord has handed your enemies the Moabites over to you.” So they went down after him and took control of ^(Q)the crossing places of the Jordan opposite Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross. ²⁹ They struck and killed about ten thousand Moabites at that time, all robust and valiant men; and no one escaped. ³⁰ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was at rest for eighty years.

Shamgar Saves Israel

³¹ Now after him came ^(R)Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck and killed six hundred Philistines with an ^[v]oxgoad; and he also saved Israel.