1 These are the nations which the LORD left to tempt Israel, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan.
2 Only, for the learning of the generation of the children of Israel, which before knew nothing of war,
3 he left the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Cananites, the Sidonians, the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon: even from mount Baalhermon unto Hamath.
4 Those remained to prove Israel by, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5 And as the children of Israel dwelt among the Cananites, Hittites, Amorites, Perezites, Hivites, and Jebusites,
6 they took the daughters of them to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7 And so the children of Israel did wickedly in the sight of the LORD and forgot the LORD their God and served Baalim and Asheroth.
8 Therefore the LORD was angry with Israel and delivered them into the hands of Cushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia. So that the children of Israel served Cushanrishathaim eight years.
9 And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD. And the LORD stirred them up a saver and saved them: one 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 sold Cushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. So that his hand was mighty over Cushanrishathaim.
11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
12 And then the children of Israel went to again, and committed wickedness in the sight of the LORD. And then the LORD hardened Eglon the king of the Moabites, against the children of Israel, because they had committed wickedness before the LORD.
13 And this Eglon gathered unto him the children of Ammon, and the Amalekites, and went and smote the children of Israel, and conquered the city of palm trees.
14 And the children of Israel served Eglon the king of the Moabites eighteen years.
15 And then they cried unto the LORD. And the LORD stirred them up a saver, Ehud the son of Gera, the son of Jemini, a man that could do nothing handsomely with his right hand. And when the children of Israel sent a present by him unto Eglon the king of the Moabites,
16 Ehud made him a two-edged dagger of a span long, and girded it under his garment upon his right thigh;
17 and brought the present unto Eglon the king of the Moabites. As for Eglon, he was a very fat man.
18 And when he had delivered the present, he let the people go that had carried the present,
19 and he himself turned back from the idols at Gilgal, and caused to say thus: "I have a secret thing to tell thee, O king." And the king commanded to keep silence, and all they that stood about him went out from him.
20 And Ehud came in unto him in a summer parlor, of which he had several unto himself alone, and said, "I have a message unto thee from God." 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 so that the hilt went in also, and the fat closed upon the hilt: for he drew not the dagger out of his belly. And filthiness departed from him.
23 But Ehud gat him out at the back door, and put to the door after him, and locked it.
24 When he was gone out, his servants came and looked. And behold, the doors of the parlor were locked. And they said, "Ah, he is doing of his easement in his summer chamber."
25 And when they had tarried till they were ashamed, for no man did the doors of the parlor open: then they took a key and opened them. And behold, their lord was fallen down dead upon the earth.
26 But Ehud escaped while they tarried, and was gone beyond the idols and escaped into Seirah.
27 And when he was come, he blew a trumpet in mount Ephraim. And the children of Israel went down with him off the hill and he before them.
28 And he said unto them, "Follow me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies, the Moabites into your hands." And they descended after him and took the passages of Jordan from the Moabites, and suffered not a man to pass over.
29 And they slew of the Moabites, the same time, upon a ten thousand men, all nobles, and men of might: that there escaped not a man,
30 and so the Moabites were subdued that day, under the hands of Israel: and the land had rest eighty years.