Judges:3
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Now these are the nations which LORD left to prove Israel by them , (
even as many [
of Israel ]
as had not known all the wars of Canaan ,
*
only that the generations of the sons of Israel might know ,
to teach them war ,
at least to such as formerly knew nothing of that ):
* [
namely ],
the five lords of the Philistines ,
and all the Canaanites ,
and the Sidonians ,
and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon ,
from mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath .
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And they were [
left ],
to prove Israel by them ,
to know whether they would hearken to the commandments of LORD ,
which he commanded their fathers by Moses .
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And the sons of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites ,
the Hittites ,
and the Amorites ,
and the Perizzites ,
and the Hivites ,
and the Jebusites .
*
And they took their daughters to be their wives ,
and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods .
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And the sons of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of LORD ,
and forgot LORD their God ,
and served the Baalim and the Asheroth .
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Therefore the anger of LORD was kindled against Israel ,
and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia ,
And the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years .
*
And when the sons of Israel cried to LORD ,
LORD raised up a savior to the sons of Israel ,
who saved them ,
even Othniel the son of Kenaz ,
Caleb '
s younger brother .
*
And the Spirit of LORD came upon him ,
and he judged Israel .
And he went out to war ,
and LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand ,
and his hand prevailed against Cushan-rishathaim .
*
And the land had rest forty years .
And Othniel the son of Kenaz died .
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And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of LORD .
And LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel because they had done that which was evil in the sight of LORD .
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And he gathered to him the sons of Ammon and Amalek ,
and he went and smote Israel ,
and they possessed the city of palm trees .
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And the sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years .
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But when the sons of Israel cried to LORD ,
LORD raised up for them a savior ,
Ehud the son of Gera ,
the Benjamite ,
a left-handed man .
And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab .
*
And Ehud made for himself a sword which had two edges ,
a cubit in length .
And he girded it under his raiment upon his right thigh .
*
And he offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab .
Now Eglon was a very fat man .
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And when he had made an end of offering the tribute ,
he sent away the men who bore the tribute .
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But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal ,
and said ,
I have a secret errand to thee ,
O king .
And he said ,
Keep silence .
And all who stood by him went out from him .
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And Ehud came to him .
And he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room .
And Ehud said ,
I have a message from God to thee .
And he arose out of his seat .
*
And Ehud put forth his left hand ,
and took the sword from his right thigh ,
and thrust it into his body .
*
And the handle also went in after the blade ,
and the fat closed upon the blade ,
for he did not draw the sword out of his body ,
and it came out behind .
*
Then Ehud went forth into the porch ,
and shut the doors of the upper room upon him ,
and locked them .
*
Now when he was gone out ,
his servants came ,
and they saw ,
and ,
behold ,
the doors of the upper room were locked .
And they said ,
Surely he is covering his feet in the upper chamber .
*
And they delayed till they were ashamed ,
and ,
behold ,
he did not open the doors of the upper room .
Therefore they took the key ,
and opened ,
and ,
behold ,
their lord was fallen down dead on the earth .
*
And Ehud escaped while they delayed ,
and passed beyond the quarries ,
and escaped to Seirah .
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And it came to pass ,
when he came ,
that he blew a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim .
And the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill-country ,
and he before them .
*
And he said to them ,
Follow after me ,
for LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand .
And they went down after him ,
and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites ,
and did not allow a man to pass over .
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And they smote about ten thousand men of Moab at that time ,
every robust man ,
and every man of valor ,
and there escaped not a man .
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So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel .
And the land had rest eighty years .
*
And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath ,
who smote six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox-goad ,
and he also saved Israel .