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Disobedience and Defeat (continued)
3:1 Now these are the nations which the LORD left,
to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not
known all the wars of Canaan;
3:2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel
might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before
knew nothing thereof;
3:3 Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the
Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in
mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of
Hamath.
3:4 And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether
they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which
he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
3:5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites,
Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and
Jebusites:
3:6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and
gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
Othniel
3:7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight
of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served
Baalim and the groves.
3:8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel,
and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of
Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served
Chushanrishathaim eight years.
3:9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD,
the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel,
who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's
younger brother.
3:10 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he
judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered
Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his
hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim.
3:11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son
of Kenaz died.
Ehud
3:12 And the children of Israel did evil again in
the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the
king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in
the sight of the LORD.
3:13 And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and
Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of
palm trees.
3:14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of
Moab eighteen years.
3:15 But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD,
the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a
Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of
Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.
3:16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a
cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his
right thigh.
3:17 And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab:
and Eglon was a very fat man.
3:18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he
sent away the people that bare the present.
3:19 But he himself turned again from the quarries that
were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee,
O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him
went out from him.
3:20 And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer
parlor, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I
have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his
seat.
3:21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger
from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:
3:22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat
closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger
out of his belly; and the dirt came out.
3:23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the
doors of the parlor upon him, and locked them.
3:24 When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they
saw that, behold, the doors of the parlor were locked, they
said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber.
3:25 And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold,
he opened not the doors of the parlor; therefore they took a
key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen
down dead on the earth.
3:26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond
the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.
3:27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a
trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of
Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before
them.
3:28 And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD
hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And
they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan
toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over.
3:29 And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand
men, all lusty, and all men of valor; and there escaped not
a man.
3:30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel.
And the land had rest fourscore years.
Shamgar
3:31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath,
which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox
goad: and he also delivered Israel. |
Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?
