Judges 3:6-16

6 ¹And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.

Othniel

7 ²And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and ³the Asheroth.

8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, ⁴and he sold them into the hand of ⁵Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.

9 But when the people of Israel ⁶cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a ⁷deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, ⁸Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

10 ⁹The Spirit of the LORD was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the LORD gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.

11 ¹⁰So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

12 ¹¹And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD strengthened Eglon ¹²the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

13 He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the ¹³Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of ¹⁴the city of palms.

14 And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

15 Then the people of Israel ¹⁵cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up for them ¹⁶a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, ¹⁷a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.

16 And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit^[a] in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes.

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Judges 3:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 3

This chapter gives an account of the nations left in Canaan to prove Israel, and who became a snare unto them, Jud 3:1-7; and of the servitude of Israel under the king of Mesopotamia for their sins, from which they were delivered by Othniel, Jud 3:8-11; and of their subjection to the Moabites, from which they were freed by Ehud, who privately assassinated the king of Moab, and then made his escape, Jud 3:12-30; and of the destruction of a large number of Philistines by Shamgar, with an ox goad, Jud 3:31.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 17

1. [Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3; Ezra 9:12]
2. Judges 2:11-13
3. Judges 6:25; Exodus 34:13
4. Judges 2:14
5. Habakkuk 3:7
6. ver. 15; Judges 4:3; Judges 6:7; Judges 10:10
7. ver. 15; Judges 2:16; Nehemiah 9:27
8. Judges 1:13
9. Judges 6:34; Judges 11:29; Judges 13:25; Judges 14:6, 19; Judges 15:14
10. [ver. 30; Judges 5:31; Judges 8:28; Joshua 11:23]
11. Judges 2:19
12. 1 Samuel 12:9
13. Judges 6:33; Psalms 83:7
14. Judges 1:16; Deuteronomy 34:3
15. See ver. 9
16. See ver. 9
17. Judges 20:16; [1 Chronicles 12:2]

Footnotes 1

[a]. A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.