| 3:1 | These were the nations the Lord permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel – he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites.* |
| 3:2 | He left those nations simply because he wanted to teach the subsequent generations of Israelites, who had not experienced the earlier battles, how to conduct holy war.* |
| 3:3 | These were the nations:* the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo-Hamath.* |
| 3:4 | They were left to test Israel, so the Lord would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses.* |
| 3:5 | The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. |
| 3:6 | They took the Canaanites’ daughters as wives and gave their daughters to the Canaanites;* they worshiped* their gods as well. |
| 3:7 | The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight.* They forgot the Lord their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs.* |
| 3:8 | The Lord was furious with Israel* and turned them over to* King Cushan-Rishathaim* of Aram-Naharaim. They were Cushan-Rishathaim’s subjects* for eight years. |
| 3:9 | When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he* raised up a deliverer for the Israelites who rescued* them. His name was Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.* |
| 3:10 | The Lord’s spirit empowered him* and he led Israel. When he went to do battle, the Lord handed over to him King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram and he overpowered him.* |
| 3:11 | The land had rest for forty years; then Othniel son of Kenaz died. |
| 3:12 | The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight.* The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel* because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight. |
| 3:13 | Eglon formed alliances with* the Ammonites and Amalekites. He came and defeated Israel, and they seized the City of Date Palm Trees. |
| 3:14 | The Israelites were subject to* King Eglon of Moab for eighteen years. |
| 3:15 | When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he* raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man.* The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment.* |
| 3:16 | Ehud made himself a sword – it had two edges and was eighteen inches long.* He strapped it under his coat on his right thigh. |
| 3:17 | He brought the tribute payment to King Eglon of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.) |
| 3:18 | After Ehud brought the tribute payment, he dismissed the people who had carried it.* |
| 3:19 | But he went back* once he reached* the carved images* at Gilgal. He said to Eglon,* “I have a secret message for you, O king.” Eglon* said, “Be quiet!”* All his attendants left. |
| 3:20 | When Ehud approached him, he was sitting in his well-ventilated* upper room all by himself. Ehud said, “I have a message from God* for you.” When Eglon rose up from his seat,* |
| 3:21 | Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and drove it into Eglon’s* belly. |
| 3:22 | The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for Ehud* did not pull the sword out of his belly.* |
| 3:23 | As Ehud went out into the vestibule,* he closed the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them. |
| 3:24 | When Ehud had left, Eglon’s* servants came and saw the locked doors of the upper room. They said, “He must be relieving himself* in the well-ventilated inner room.”* |
| 3:25 | They waited so long they were embarrassed, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. Finally they took the key and opened the doors.* Right before their eyes was their master, sprawled out dead on the floor!* |
| 3:26 | Now Ehud had escaped while they were delaying. When he passed the carved images, he escaped to Seirah. |
| 3:27 | When he reached Seirah,* he blew a trumpet* in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites went down with him from the hill country, with Ehud in the lead.* |
| 3:28 | He said to them, “Follow me, for the Lord is about to defeat your enemies, the Moabites!”* They followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan River* opposite Moab,* and did not let anyone cross. |
| 3:29 | That day they killed about ten thousand Moabites* – all strong, capable warriors; not one escaped. |
| 3:30 | Israel humiliated Moab that day, and the land had rest for eighty years. |
| 3:31 | After Ehud* came* Shamgar son of Anath; he killed six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad and, like Ehud,* delivered Israel. |
Judges 3 - NET Bible [draft]
