Parallel Bible results for "Judges 3"

Judges 3

The Message Bible MSG

1 These are the nations that God left there, using them to test the Israelites who had no experience in the Canaanite wars.

2 He did it to train the descendants of Israel, the ones who had no battle experience, in the art of war.

3 He left the five Philistine tyrants, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon to Hamath's Pass.

4 They were there to test Israel and see whether they would obey God's commands that were given to their parents through Moses.

5 But the People of Israel made themselves at home among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

6 They married their daughters and gave their own daughters to their sons in marriage. And they worshiped their gods.

7 The People of Israel did evil in God's sight. They forgot their God and worshiped the Baal gods and Asherah goddesses.

8 God's hot anger blazed against Israel. He sold them off to Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim. The People of Israel were in servitude to Cushan-Rishathaim for eight years.

9 The People of Israel cried out to God and God raised up a savior who rescued them: Caleb's nephew Othniel, son of his younger brother Kenaz.The Spirit of God came on him and he rallied Israel. He went out to war and God gave him Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim. Othniel made short work of him.

10

11 The land was quiet for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.

12 But the People of Israel went back to doing evil in God's sight. So God made Eglon king of Moab a power against Israel because they did evil in God's sight.

13 He recruited the Ammonites and Amalekites and went out and struck Israel. They took the City of Palms.

14 The People of Israel were in servitude to Eglon fourteen years.

15 The People of Israel cried out to God and God raised up for them a savior, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjaminite. He was left-handed. The People of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon king of Moab.

16 Ehud made himself a short two-edged sword and strapped it on his right thigh under his clothes.

17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Eglon was grossly fat.

18 After Ehud finished presenting the tribute, he went a little way with the men who had carried it.

19 But when he got as far as the stone images near Gilgal, he went back and said, "I have a private message for you, O king." The king told his servants, "Leave." They all left.

20 Ehud approached him - the king was now quite alone in his cool rooftop room - and said, "I have a word of God for you." Eglon stood up from his throne.

21 Ehud reached with his left hand and took his sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's big belly.

22 Not only the blade but the hilt went in. The fat closed in over it so he couldn't pull it out.

23 Ehud slipped out by way of the porch and shut and locked the doors of the rooftop room behind him.

24 Then he was gone. When the servants came, they saw with surprise that the doors to the rooftop room were locked. They said, "He's probably relieving himself in the restroom."

25 They waited. And then they worried - no one was coming out of those locked doors. Finally, they got a key and unlocked them. There was their master, fallen on the floor, dead!

26 While they were standing around wondering what to do, Ehud was long gone. He got past the stone images and escaped to Seirah.

27 When he got there, he sounded the trumpet on Mount Ephraim. The People of Israel came down from the hills and joined him. He took his place at their head.

28 He said, "Follow me, for God has given your enemies - yes, Moab! - to you." They went down after him and secured the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites. They let no one cross over.

29 At that time, they struck down about ten companies of Moabites, all of them well-fed and robust. Not one escaped.

30 That day Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel. The land was quiet for eighty years.

31 Shamgar son of Anath came after Ehud. Using a cattle prod, he killed six hundred Philistines single-handed. He too saved Israel.

New International Version NIV

1 These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan

2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience):

3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.

4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.

5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

6 They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.

8 The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.

9 But when they cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.

10 The Spirit of the LORD came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The LORD gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.

11 So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

12 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and because they did this evil the LORD gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.

13 Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms.

14 The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.

15 Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

16 Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.

17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man.

18 After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it.

19 But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.” The king said to his attendants, “Leave us!” And they all left.

20 Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace and said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose from his seat,

21 Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly.

22 Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.

23 Then Ehud went out to the porch ; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

24 After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace.”

25 They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.

26 While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah.

27 When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.

28 “Follow me,” he ordered, “for the LORD has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down and took possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab; they allowed no one to cross over.

29 At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not one escaped.

30 That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.

31 After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.