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are the nations the Lord left to test Israel, since none of the Israelites had experienced any of the wars in Canaan. 2 In this way, future generations of the Israelites would be taught warfare, who otherwise would have had no battle experience. 3 These nations included: the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanese mountains from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. 4 They were left to test Israel, to find if they would obey the commands of the Lord, which He had given their forefathers through Moses.
5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters as wives for themselves and gave their own daughters to their sons and they worshipped their gods.
7 The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 Therefore the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim. Then the Israelites were subject to Cushan-rishathaim eight years.
9 But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the Israelites to save them, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 10 The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into his hand, so he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. 11 Then the land had rest forty years, and Othniel son of Kenaz died.
12 The Israelites again did evil in the sight of the Lord. Because they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel. 13 Eglon joined forces with the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and they attacked and defeated Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. 14 The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.
15 But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.
16 Now Ehud made for himself a double-edged sword a cubit long, and he fastened it to his right thigh under his clothes. 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 the people who had carried the tribute on their way. 19 But at the stone images at Gilgal he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.”
So the king said, “Silence!” And all his attendants went out from him.
20 Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in his private room upstairs where it was cool, and said, “I have a message from God for you.” So the king rose up from his seat, 21 and Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly. 22 The hilt even went in after the blade, so the fat closed in over the blade. Ehud didn’t draw the sword out of his belly, and his entrails gushed out. 23 Then Ehud went out through the porch and closed and locked the doors of the upper room behind him.
24 After he had gone, Eglon’s servants came and found the doors of the upper room were locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the cool chamber.” 25 So they waited until they became embarrassed, but he had still not opened the doors of the upper room. So they took a key and unlocked them, and they saw their lord lying there dead on the floor.
26 But Ehud had escaped while they waited. He passed by the stone images and fled to Seirah. 27 After he arrived there, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hill country, with him leading them.
28 “Follow me,” he told them, “for the Lord has delivered your enemies, the Moabites, into your hands.” So they followed him down, and captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. 29 At that time they killed about ten thousand Moabite men, all strong and brave men, yet not one man escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.
31 After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who killed six hundred Philistine men with an oxgoad. He too delivered Israel.