3
1 And these [are] the nations which Jehovah left, to try  Israel by them, all who have not known all the wars of Canaan;
2 (only for the sake of the generations of the sons of  Israel's knowing, to teach them war, only those who formerly  have not known them) --
3 five princes of the Philistines, and all the Canaanite, and  the Zidonian, and the Hivite inhabiting mount Lebanon, from  mount Baal-Hermon unto the entering in of Hamath;
4 and they are to prove Israel by them, to know whether they  obey the commands of Jehovah that He commanded their fathers by  the hand of Moses.
5 And the sons of Israel have dwelt in the midst of the  Canaanite, the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and  the Hivite, and the Jebusite,
6 and take their daughters to them for wives, and their  daughters have given to their sons, and they serve their gods;
7 and the sons of Israel do the evil thing in the eyes of  Jehovah, and forget Jehovah their God, and serve the Baalim and  the shrines.
8 And the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel, and He  selleth them into the hand of Chushan-Rishathaim king of  Aram-Naharaim, and the sons of Israel serve Chushan-Rishathaim  eight years;
9 and the sons of Israel cry unto Jehovah, and Jehovah raiseth  a saviour to the sons of Israel, and he saveth them -- Othniel  son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother;
10 and the Spirit of Jehovah is upon him, and he judgeth  Israel, and goeth out to battle, and Jehovah giveth unto his  hand Chushan-Rishathaim king of Aram, and strong is his hand  against Chushan-Rishathaim;
11 and the land resteth forty years. And Othniel son of Kenaz  dieth,
12 and the sons of Israel add to do the evil thing in the eyes  of Jehovah; and Jehovah strengtheneth Eglon king of Moab  against Israel, because that they have done the evil thing in  the eyes of Jehovah;
13 and he gathereth unto him the Bene-Ammon and Amalek, and  goeth and smiteth Israel, and they possess the city of palms;
14 and the sons of Israel serve Eglon king of Moab eighteen  years.
15 And the sons of Israel cry unto Jehovah, and Jehovah  raiseth to them a saviour, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjamite (a  man -- shut of his right hand), and the sons of Israel send by  his hand a present to Eglon king of Moab;
16 and Ehud maketh for himself a sword, and it hath two mouths  (a cubit [is] its length), and he girdeth it under his long  robe on his right thigh;
17 and he bringeth near the present to Eglon king of Moab, and  Eglon [is] a very fat man.
18 And it cometh to pass, when he hath finished to bring near  the present, that he sendeth away the people bearing the  present,
19 and he himself hath turned back from the graven images  which [are] at Gilgal, and saith, `A secret word I have unto  thee, O king;' and he saith, `Hush!' and go out from him do all  those standing by him.
20 And Ehud hath come unto him, and he is sitting in the upper  chamber of the wall which he hath for himself, and Ehud saith,  `A word of God I have unto thee;' and he riseth from off the  throne;
21 and Ehud putteth forth his left hand, and taketh the sword  from off his right thigh, and striketh it into his belly;
22 and the haft also goeth in after the blade, and the fat  shutteth on the blade, that he hath not drawn the sword out of  his belly, and it goeth out at the fundament.
23 And Ehud goeth out at the porch, and shutteth the doors of  the upper chamber upon him, and hath bolted [it];
24 and he hath gone out, and his servants have come in, and  look, and lo, the doors of the upper chamber are bolted, and  they say, `He is only covering his feet in the inner chamber of  the wall.'
25 And they stay till confounded, and lo, he is not opening  the doors of the upper chamber, and they take the key, and  open, and lo, their lord is fallen to the earth -- dead.
26 And Ehud escaped during their tarrying, and hath passed by  the images, and is escaped to Seirath.
27 And it cometh to pass, in his coming in, that he bloweth  with a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim, and go down with  him do the sons of Israel from the hill-country, and he before  them;
28 and he saith unto them, `Pursue after me, for Jehovah hath  given your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand;' and they go  down after him, and capture the passages of the Jordan towards  Moab, and have not permitted a man to pass over.
29 And they smite Moab at that time, about ten thousand men,  all robust, and every one a man of valour, and not a man hath  escaped,
30 and Moab is humbled in that day under the hand of Israel;  and the land resteth eighty years.
31 And after him hath been Shamgar son of Anath, and he  smiteth the Philistines -- six hundred men -- with an ox-goad, and  he saveth -- he also -- Israel.