Judges 3

3 ¹ These are the nations our Father left in the land to test all the Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan. ² (He did this only so that the generations of Israel who had not known war before might learn it.) ³ These were the nations: 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-hamath. ⁴ They were left to test Israel, to see whether they would obey the commands of our Father, which he had given their ancestors through Moses. ⁵ So the Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁶ They took the daughters of these peoples as wives, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

The Father Raises Up Othniel

⁷ The Israelites did what was evil in the eyes of our Father. They forgot their Father and served the Baals and the Asherahs. ⁸ So our Father's anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years. ⁹ But when the Israelites cried out to our Father, he raised up a deliverer to rescue them—Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. ¹⁰ The Spirit of our Father came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and our Father gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into his hand, so that his hand prevailed over Cushan-Rishathaim. ¹¹ Then the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

The Father Raises Up Ehud

¹² Once again the Israelites did what was evil in the eyes of our Father, and because they did this evil, our Father gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel. ¹³ Eglon gathered the Ammonites and Amalekites to himself, then went and struck Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. ¹⁴ The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. ¹⁵ Again the Israelites cried out to our Father, and he raised up a deliverer for them—Ehud son of Gera, a Benjamite, a left-handed man. The Israelites sent tribute through him to Eglon king of Moab. ¹⁶ Now Ehud had made himself a double-edged sword about eighteen inches long, and he strapped it under his clothing on his right thigh. ¹⁷ He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. ¹⁸ When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried it. ¹⁹ But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king." The king said, "Silence!" and all his attendants left him.

²⁰ Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the cool upper room of his palace. Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." And the king rose from his seat. ²¹ Then Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into Eglon's belly. ²² Even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over it, for Ehud did not pull the sword out of his belly; and his bowels discharged. ²³ Then Ehud went out to the porch, closing the doors of the upper room behind him and locking them.

²⁴ After he had gone, the servants came and saw that the doors of the upper room were locked. They said, "He must be relieving himself in the inner room." ²⁵ So they waited until they were embarrassed, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. So they took the key and opened them—and there was their lord, fallen to the floor, dead.

²⁶ While they delayed, Ehud escaped. He passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷ When he arrived, he blew the ram's horn in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with Ehud leading them. ²⁸ He said to them, "Follow me, for our Father has given your enemies, Moab, into your hand." So they went down after him, seized the fords of the Jordan against Moab, and let no one cross over. ²⁹ At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not one escaped. ³⁰ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest for eighty years.

The Father Raises Up Shamgar

³¹ After him came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too delivered Israel.