| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Berean Study Bible |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1These are the nations that the LORD left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan, |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2if only to teach warfare to the subsequent generations of Israel, especially to those who had not known it formerly: |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out whether they would keep the commandments of the LORD, which He had given their fathers through Moses. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5Thus the Israelites continued to live among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6And they took the daughters of these people in marriage, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, He raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz as a deliverer to save them. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge and went out to war. And the LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into the hand of Othniel, who prevailed against him. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13After enlisting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join forces with him, Eglon attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16Now Ehud had made for himself a double-edged sword a cubit long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his cloak |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17and brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was an obese man. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18After Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he ushered out those who had carried it. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” “Silence,” said the king, and all his attendants left him. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the coolness of his upper room. “I have a word from God for you,” Ehud said, and the king rose from his seat. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21And Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22Even the handle sank in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And Eglon’s bowels emptied. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23Then Ehud went out through the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upper room behind him. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24After Ehud was gone, Eglon’s servants came in and found the doors of the upper room locked. “He must be relieving himself in the cool room,” they said. |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25So they waited until they became worried and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upper room. Then they took the key and opened the doors—and there was their lord lying dead on the floor. |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26Ehud, however, had escaped while the servants waited. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27On arriving in Seirah, he blew the ram’s horn throughout the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites came down with him from the hills, and he became their leader. |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28“Follow me,” he told them, “for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men. Not one of them escaped. |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30So Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had rest for eighty years. |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. |
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