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Now these are the nations that the Lord left to test all those in Israel who had no experience of any war in Canaan
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(it was only that successive generations of Israelites might know war, to teach those who had no experience of it before):
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the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.
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They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their ancestors by Moses.
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So the Israelites lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites;
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and they took their daughters as wives for themselves, and their own daughters they gave to their sons; and they worshiped their gods.
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The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, forgetting the Lord their God, and worshiping the Baals and the Asherahs.
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Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim; and the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.
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But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the Israelites, who delivered them, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
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The spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel; he went out to war, and the Lord gave King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.
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So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.
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The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord strengthened King Eglon of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
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In alliance with the Ammonites and the Amalekites, he went and defeated Israel; and they took possession of the city of palms.
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So the Israelites served King Eglon of Moab eighteen years.
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But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The Israelites sent tribute by him to King Eglon of Moab.
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Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length; and he fastened it on his right thigh under his clothes.
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Then he presented the tribute to King Eglon of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.