King James Version › Judges › 3

Judges

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1 Now these are the na­tions which the LORD left, to prove Is­rael by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; 2 Only that the gen­er­a­tions of the chil­dren of Is­rael might know, to teach them war, at the least such as be­fore knew noth­ing there­of; 3 Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaan­ites, and the Sido­nians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal­her­mon unto the en­ter­ing in of Hamath. 4 And they were to prove Is­rael by them, to know whether they would hear­ken unto the com­mand­ments of the LORD, which he com­mand­ed their fa­thers by the hand of Moses. 5 And the chil­dren of Is­rael dwelt among the Canaan­ites, Hit­tites, and Amor­ites, and Per­izzites, and Hivites, and Je­busites: 6 And they took their daugh­ters to be their wives, and gave their daugh­ters to their sons, and served their gods. 7 And the chil­dren of Is­rael did evil in the sight of the LORD, and for­gat the LORD their God, and served Baal­im and the groves. 8 There­fore the anger of the LORD was hot against Is­rael, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan­r­ishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the chil­dren of Is­rael served Chushan­r­ishathaim eight years. 9 And when the chil­dren of Is­rael cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a de­liv­er­er to the chil­dren of Is­rael, who de­liv­ered them, even Oth­niel the son of Ke­naz, Caleb's younger broth­er. 10 And the Spir­it of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Is­rael, and went out to war: and the LORD de­liv­ered Chushan­r­ishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand pre­vailed against Chushan­r­ishathaim. 11 And the land had rest forty years. And Oth­niel the son of Ke­naz died. 12 And the chil­dren of Is­rael did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and 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 unto him the chil­dren of Am­mon and Amalek, and went and smote Is­rael, and pos­sessed the city of palm trees. 14 So the chil­dren of Is­rael served Eglon the king of Moab eigh­teen years. 15 But when the chil­dren of Is­rael cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a de­liv­er­er, Ehud the son of Gera, a Ben­jamite, a man left­hand­ed: and by him the chil­dren of Is­rael sent a pre­sent unto Eglon the king of Moab. 16 But Ehud made him a dag­ger which had two edges, of a cu­bit length; and he did gird it un­der his rai­ment upon his right thigh. 17 And he brought the pre­sent unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man. 18 And when he had made an end to of­fer the pre­sent, he sent away the peo­ple that bare the pre­sent. 19 But he him­self turned again from the quar­ries that were by Gil­gal, and said, I have a se­cret er­rand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep si­lence. And all that stood by him went out from him. 20 And Ehud came unto him; and he was sit­ting in a sum­mer par­lour, which he had for him­self alone. And Ehud said, I have a mes­sage from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. 21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dag­ger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his bel­ly: 22 And the haft also went in af­ter the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dag­ger out of his bel­ly; and the dirt came out. 23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the par­lour upon him, and locked them. 24 When he was gone out, his ser­vants came; and when they saw that, be­hold, the doors of the par­lour were locked, they said, Sure­ly he cov­ereth his feet in his sum­mer cham­ber. 25 And they tar­ried till they were ashamed: and, be­hold, he opened not the doors of the par­lour; there­fore they took a key, and opened them: and, be­hold, their lord was fall­en down dead on the earth. 26 And Ehud es­caped while they tar­ried, and passed be­yond the quar­ries, and es­caped unto Seirath. 27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trum­pet in the moun­tain of Ephraim, and the chil­dren of Is­rael went down with him from the mount, and he be­fore them. 28 And he said unto them, Fol­low af­ter me: for the LORD hath de­liv­ered your en­e­mies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down af­ter him, and took the fords of Jor­dan to­ward Moab, and suf­fered not a man to pass over. 29 And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thou­sand men, all lusty, and all men of val­our; and there es­caped not a man. 30 So Moab was sub­dued that day un­der the hand of Is­rael. And the land had rest fourscore years. 31 And af­ter him was Sham­gar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hun­dred men with an ox goad: and he also de­liv­ered Is­rael.