The Book of Judges

⭑ Catholic Public Domain :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 3 -

These are the nations which the Lord left, so that by them he might instruct Israel and all who had not known the wars of the Canaanites,

so that afterward their sons might learn to contend with their enemies, and to have a willingness to do battle:

the five princes of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who were living on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-Hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath.

And he left them, so that by them he might test Israel, as to whether or not they would listen to the commandments of the Lord, which he instructed to their fathers by the hand of Moses.

And so, the sons of Israel lived in the midst of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

And they took their daughters as wives, and they gave their own daughters to their sons, and they served their gods.

Othniel

And they did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they forgot their God, while serving the Baals and Ashtaroth.

And the Lord, having become angry with Israel, delivered them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim, the king of Mesopotamia, and they served him for eight years.(a)

And they cried out to the Lord, who raised up for them a savior, and he freed them, namely, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, a younger brother of Caleb.

And the Spirit of the Lord was in him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to fight, and the Lord delivered Cushan-Rishathaim, the king of Syria, and he overwhelmed him.

And the land was quiet for forty years. And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died.

Ehud

Then the sons of Israel resumed doing evil in the sight of the Lord, who strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against them because they did evil in his sight.

And he joined to him the sons of Ammon and the sons of Amalek. And he went forth and struck Israel, and he possessed the City of Palms.

And the sons of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, for eighteen years.

And afterward, they cried out to the Lord, who raised up for them a savior, called Ehud, the son of Gera, the son of Benjamin, who used either hand as well as the right hand. And the sons of Israel sent gifts to Eglon, the king of Moab, by him.

And he made for himself a two-edged sword, having a handle, reaching to the middle, the length of the palm of a hand. And he was girded with it under his cloak, on the right thigh.

And he offered the gifts to Eglon, the king of Moab. Now Eglon was exceedingly fat.

And when he had presented the gifts to him, he followed out his companions, who had arrived with him.

And then, returning from Gilgal where the idols were, he said to the king, “I have a secret word for you, O king.” And he ordered silence. And when all those who were around him had departed,(b)

Ehud entered to him. Now he was sitting alone in a summer upper room. And he said, “I have a word from God to you.” And immediately he rose up from his throne.(c)

And Ehud extended his left hand, and he took the dagger from his right thigh. And he thrust it into his abdomen

so strongly that the handle followed the blade into the wound, and was enclosed by the great amount of fat. Neither did he withdraw the sword. Instead, he left it in the body just as he had struck with it. And immediately, by the private parts of nature, the filth of the bowels went out.

Then Ehud carefully closed the doors of the upper room. And securing the bars,

he departed by a back exit. And the servants of the king, entering, saw that the doors of the upper room were closed, and they said, “Perhaps he is emptying his bowels in the summer room.”(d)

And after waiting a long time, until they were embarrassed, and seeing that no one opened the door, they took the key, and opening it, they found their lord lying dead on the ground.

But Ehud, while they were in confusion, escaped and passed by the place of the idols, from which he had returned. And he arrived at Seirath.

And immediately he sounded the trumpet on Mount Ephraim. And the sons of Israel descended with him, he himself advancing at the front.

And he said to them: “Follow me. For the Lord has delivered our enemies, the Moabites, into our hands.” And they descended after him, and they occupied the fords of the Jordan, which cross over to Moab. And they did not permit anyone to cross.

And so, they struck down the Moabites at that time, about ten thousand, all strong and robust men. None of them were able to escape.

And Moab was humbled in that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was quiet for eighty years.

Shamgar

After him, there was Shamgar, the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred men of the Philistines with a plowshare. And he also defended Israel.

Footnotes

(a)3:8 Mesopotamia:In Hebrew Aramnaharim. Syria of the two rivers: so called because it lies between the Euphrates and the Tigris. It is absolutely called Syria, ver. 10.(Challoner)

(b)3:19 Ehud presented the gifts to the king. Then he followed the companions of the king as they left the presence of the king to go out to Gilgal, where the idols were. They were perhaps thanking their gods for a successful visit with the king. Since Ehud was returning from Gilgal, the king may have assumed that Ehud had received some kind of message from the idols (the pagan gods) there. Thus he was willing to listen to Ehud alone.(Conte)

(c)3:20 A word from God, etc:What Aod, who was judge and chief magistrate of Israel, did on this occasion, was by a special inspiration of God: but such things are not to be imitated by private men.(Challoner)

(d)3:24 The servants drew this conclusion because of the locked door and the smell.(Conte)

Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them, even as many as had not known all the wars of Canaan;

only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at least those who knew nothing of it before:

the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.

They were left to test Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the LORD’s commandments, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.

The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

They took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.

Othniel

The children of Israel did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth.

Therefore the LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years.

When the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

The LORD’s Spirit came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and the LORD delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. His hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim.

The land had rest forty years, then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the LORD’s sight.

He gathered the children of Ammon and Amalek to himself; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees.

The children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

But when the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a savior for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.

Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit

(a)

in length; and he wore it under his clothing on his right thigh.

He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.

When Ehud had finished offering the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute.

But he himself turned back from the stone idols that were by Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” The king said, “Keep silence!” All who stood by him left him.

Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, “I have a message from God to you.” He arose out of his seat.

Ehud put out his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body.

The handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he didn’t draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind.

Then Ehud went out onto the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room on him, and locked them.

After he had gone, his servants came and saw that the doors of the upper room were locked. They said, “Surely he is covering his feet

(b)

in the upper room.”

They waited until they were ashamed; and behold, he didn’t open the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them, and behold, their lord had fallen down dead on the floor.

Ehud escaped while they waited, passed beyond the stone idols, and escaped to Seirah.

When he had come, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he led them.

He said to them, “Follow me; for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” They followed him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and didn’t allow any man to pass over.

They struck at that time about ten thousand men of Moab, every strong man and every man of valor. No man escaped.

So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. Then the land had rest eighty years.

Shamgar

After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad. He also saved Israel.

Footnotes

(a)3:16 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.

(b)3:24 or, “relieving himself”.