Judges 3

_1-2God wanted to teach the young Israelites how to fight in a war. These were the Israelites who have not fought in a war yet. He wanted to test the Israelites and He let these people stay in the land. They were ₃the people in the 5 Philistine towns, all the Canaanite people, the Sidonian people and the Hivite people in Mount Lebanon from Baal-Hermon to Lebo-Hamath. ₄The Lord wanted to test the Israelites. He wanted to see if they would obey his commandments. He had sent Moses to give the commandments to their forefathers. ₅The Israelites lived among the Canaanite people, the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ₆Then the Israelites married women and men from these nations and later they worshipped_their_gods.

₇The Israelites did bad things that the Lord said were wrong. They forgot the Lord and they worshipped_the_idols Baal and Asherah. ₈The Lord became very angry with the Israelites and He helped King Cushan-Rishathaim win the war_against them. Cushan-Rishathaim was the king of the people of Aram, who lived between the Euphrates River and the Tigris River. Cushan-Rishathaim ruled over the Israelites for 8 years. ₉Then the Israelites prayed to the Lord and asked Him to help them. The Lord sent a saviour to come and save the Israelites. The name of this saviour was Othniel. He was the son of Caleb's younger brother Kenaz. ₁₀The Spirit_of_the_Lord came into Othniel. He became the leader of the Israelites and he made war_against Cushan-Rishathaim and he won against him and his people. It was the Lord who helped Othniel win. ₁₁Then there was peace in the land for 40 years and then Othniel, son of Kenaz, died.

₁₂The Israelites started doing bad things again, things that the Lord said were wrong. Then the Lord made King Eglon and the people of Moab a strong nation. They were stronger than the Israelites. ₁₃The Ammonites and the Amalekites came to help King Eglon and they defeated the Israelites in the city of Jericho, the city with the palm trees. ₁₄King Eglon of Moab ruled over the Israelites for 18 years. ₁₅Then the Israelites prayed to the Lord and asked Him to help them. The Lord listened to them and He sent a saviour to come and save them. The name of this leader was Ehud. He was the son of Gera, from the Benjamin tribe.

Ehud always used his left hand when he worked or wanted to fight. The Israelites sent him to give the tax money to King Eglon of Moab. ₁₆Ehud made a small sword that was sharp on both sides. He tied the sword to his belt on his right hip under his clothes. ₁₇Then Ehud took the tax money to King Eglon of Moab. King Eglon was very fat. ₁₈After he had given the tax money to the king, he told the men who were with him to go home. ₁₉Ehud stopped when he got near the statues at Gilgal. He turned_around and went back to the king and told him: ‘Your_Majesty, I must tell you something, but it is a secret.’

The king then told all the people who were with him to go out, and they went out. ₂₀The king was in his cool upper room, and there were no other people with him. Ehud said to the king: ‘I have a message for you from God.’

When the king got up from his chair ₂₁Ehud took his sword with his left hand from his right hip and he pushed it into the king's stomach. The sword went in very deep. ₂₂It went so deep into the king's stomach that the point of the sword came out of his back. Ehud did not pull out the sword. ₂₃He closed the door and locked it and he climbed through a window and went out of the front door. ₂₄After Ehud had gone away, the servants of the king came and they saw that the door was closed. They thought the king was on the toilet. ₂₅They waited a long time and did not know what to do. No one opened the door. Then they got a key and opened the door and they saw their king dead on the floor.

₂₆Because the servants had waited so long, Ehud had time to run away. He went past the statues and he went to the town of Seirah. ₂₇When he got there, he blew a ram's-horn on the mountains of Ephraim. The Israelites came from the mountains and they went with him. He ran in front ₂₈and he told the men: ‘Come with me because the Lord will help you defeat your enemies, the Moabites, today.’

The Israelites went with Ehud to the Jordan Valley, and they put men at the places along the Jordan River where the water was not very deep between the land_of_Israel and the land of Moab. They told the men to make sure that no one went through the river. ₂₉The Israelites defeated the Moabite people and they killed 10 000 men. All the men were strong and they were good soldiers. ₃₀From that day the Israelites ruled over Moab and they had peace in their land for 80 years.

₃₁After Ehud, Shamgar was the leader of Israelites. He was the son of Anath and he killed 600 Philistines with a sharp stick. He also saved his people.