Judges, Chapter 3:

Verses from Judges, Chapter 3 of the book of Judges in the Bible.

The peoples that Israel did not expel

• 1. These are the nations that the Lord left to test all the Israelites who had not seen any of the wars in Canaan. He did this only to train the descendants of the Israelites in war, as they had no previous combat experience:
• 2. the 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-Hamate.
• 3. These nations were left so that the Israelites could be tested by them, whether they would obey the commandments that the Lord had given to their ancestors through Moses.
• 4. The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.
• 5. They took their daughters in marriage and gave their daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.
• 6. The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, for they forgot the Lord their God and worshiped the Baals and Asherah.
• 7. The Lord's anger was so hot against Israel that he delivered them into the hands of Chuhan-risataim, king of Mesopotamia, by whom the Israelites were subdued for eight years.

Judge Otniel

• 8. But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, who delivered them.
• 9. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, so he led Israel and went to war. The Lord delivered Cuchã-Risataim, king of Mesopotamia, into the hands of Othniel, who prevailed against him.
• 10. And the land had peace for forty years, until the death of Othniel the son of Kenaz.
• 11. Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord, and so the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.
• 12. Having reached an alliance with the Ammonites and the Amalekites, Eglon came and defeated Israel and conquered the City of Palms.
• 13. The Israelites were under the rule of Eglon, king of Moab, for eighteen years.
• 14. Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, who gave them a deliverer named Ehud, a left-handed man, son of the Benjamite Gera. The Israelites sent him with the payment of tribute to Eglon, king of Moab.

Eude

• 15. Ehud had made a two-edged sword, eighteen inches long, and had tied it to his right thigh under his clothes.
• 16. He gave the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab, a very fat man.
• 17. Then Ehud sent the bearers away.
• 18. At the idols near Gilgal, he returned and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” The king replied: “Shut up!” And all his attendants left his presence.
• 19. At the idols near Gilgal, he returned and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” The king replied: “Shut up!” And all his attendants left his presence.
• 20. Ehud approached the king, who was sitting alone in the upper room of the summer palace, and repeated, “I have a message from God for you.” When the king rose from the throne,
• 21. Ehud stretched out his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly.
• 22. Even the handle penetrated with the blade; and when he did not take out his sword, the fat closed over him.
• 23. Then Ehud went out into the porch, after closing and locking the doors of the room behind him.
• 24. After he left, the servants came and found the doors to the upper room locked, and said, “He must be relieving himself in his private room.”
• 25. They got tired of waiting and, as he wouldn't open the door to the room, they took the key and opened it. And there was his master, lying on the ground, dead!
• 26. While they waited, Ehud escaped. He passed by the idols and fled to Seirá.
• 27. When he arrived, he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim, and the Israelites came down from the mountains, with him at the head.
• 28. “Follow me,” he commanded, “for the Lord has delivered Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” They followed him, took possession of the crossing point of the Jordan that led to Moab, and did not let anyone cross the river.
• 29. At that time they killed about ten thousand Moabites, all of them strong and vigorous; not a single man escaped.
• 30. On that day Moab was subdued by Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.

Sangar

• 31. After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who killed six hundred Philistines with an ox goad. He also freed Israel.

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