rsv Judges:3:12-30 SEEK
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And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD ;
and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel ,
because they had done what was evil in the sight of the LORD .
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He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amal '
ekites ,
and went and defeated Israel ;
and they took possession of the city of palms .
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And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years .
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But when the people of Israel cried to the LORD ,
the LORD raised up for them a deliverer ,
Ehud ,
the son of Gera ,
the Benjaminite ,
a left-handed man .
The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab .
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And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges ,
a cubit in length ;
and he girded it on his right thigh under his clothes .
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And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab .
Now Eglon was a very fat man .
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And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute ,
he sent away the people that carried the tribute .
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But he himself turned back at the sculptured stones near Gilgal ,
and said , "
I have a secret message for you ,
O king ."
And he commanded , "
Silence ."
And all his attendants went out from his presence .
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And Ehud came to him ,
as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber .
And Ehud said , "
I have a message from God for you ."
And he arose from his seat .
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And Ehud reached with his left hand ,
took the sword from his right thigh ,
and thrust it into his belly ;
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and the hilt also went in after the blade ,
and the fat closed over the blade ,
for he did not draw the sword out of his belly ;
and the dirt came out .
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Then Ehud went out into the vestibule ,
and closed the doors of the roof chamber upon him ,
and locked them .
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When he had gone ,
the servants came ;
and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked ,
they thought , "
He is only relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber ."
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And they waited till they were utterly at a loss ;
but when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber ,
they took the key and opened them ;
and there lay their lord dead on the floor .
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Ehud escaped while they delayed ,
and passed beyond the sculptured stones ,
and escaped to Se-i '
rah .
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When he arrived ,
he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of E '
phraim ;
and the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country ,
having him at their head .
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And he said to them , "
Follow after me ;
for the LORD has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand ."
So they went down after him ,
and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites ,
and allowed not a man to pass over .
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And they killed at that time about ten thousand of the Moabites ,
all strong ,
able-bodied men ;
not a man escaped .
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So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel .
And the land had rest for eighty years .