Judges 3:12-22

12 Forsooth the sons of Israel added to do evil in the sight of the Lord (And the Israelites did more evil before the Lord); and he strengthened against them Eglon, the king of Moab, for they did evil in the sight of the Lord.
13 And the Lord coupled to him the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went, and smote Israel (and he went, and struck Israel), and had in possession the city of Palms.
14 And the sons of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, eighteen years. (And the Israelites served Eglon, the king of Moab, for eighteen years.)
15 And afterward they cried to the Lord; and he raised to them a saviour, Ehud by name, the son of Gera, son of Benjamin, the which Ehud used ever either hand for the right hand. And the sons of Israel sent by him gifts, that is, (the) tribute, to Eglon, king of Moab; (And they cried to the Lord; and he raised up a saviour for them, named Ehud, the son of Gera, the son of Benjamin, and he used either hand for the right hand. And the Israelites sent him to take the tribute, that is, the taxes, to Eglon, the king of Moab;)
16 [the] which Ehud made to him(self) a sword carving on ever either side, of the length of the palm of an hand; and he was girded therewith under the say, that is, a knight's mantle, in the right hip. (and Ehud made for himself a sword sharp on both sides, the length of the palm of a hand; and he was girded with it under his say, that is, under his knight's mantle, on the right hip.)
17 And he brought gifts to Eglon, king of Moab; and Eglon was full fat. (And he brought the tribute, or the taxes, to Eglon, the king of Moab; and Eglon was very fat.)
18 And when he had given gifts to the king, he followed forth after his fellows that came with him; (And when he had given the tribute to the king, he went away with his fellows who had come with him;)
19 and he turned again from Gilgal, where (the graven) idols were, and he said to the king, O king, I have a privy word to thee (but he turned back at Gilgal, where the carved stones were, and when he had come before the king, he said, O king, I have a private word for thee). And the king commanded silence. And when all men were gone out, that were about him,
20 Ehud entered (un)to him; and the king sat alone in a summer parlour. And Ehud said, I have the word of God to thee (And Ehud said, I have a word from God for thee). The which rose at once from his throne.
21 And Ehud held forth his left hand, and took his sword from his right hip; and he put it into the king's womb so strongly,
22 that the pommel, either hilt, followed the iron in(to) the wound, and was holden strait in the thickest fatness within; and Ehud drew not out the sword, but so as he had smitten Eglon (but as he had so struck Eglon), he left it in his body; and at once by the privates of (man)kind, the turds of the womb burst out.

Judges 3:12-22 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.