The Bible in Basic English BBE
Orthodox Jewish Bible OJB
1 Now these are the nations which the Lord kept in the land for the purpose of testing Israel by them, all those who had had no experience of all the wars of Canaan;
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Now these are the Goyim which Hashem let remain, to test Yisroel by them, even as many of Yisroel who had not known all the milchamot Kena’an;
2 Only because of the generations of the children of Israel, for the purpose of teaching them war--only those who up till then had no experience of it;
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Only so that the dorot of the Bnei Yisroel might have da’as, to teach them milchamah, such as before knew nothing thereof;
3 The five chiefs of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites and the Zidonians and the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from the mountain Baal-hermon as far as Hamath:
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Namely, five rulers of the Pelishtim (Philistines), and all the Kena’ani, and the Tzidoni, and the Chivi that dwelt in Har HaLevanon, from Har Baal-Chermon unto the entrance of Chamat.
4 For the purpose of testing Israel by them, to see if they would give ear to the orders of the Lord, which he had given to their fathers by the hand of Moses.
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And they were to test Yisroel by them, to know whether they would pay heed unto the Mitzvot Hashem, which He commanded their Avot by the yad Moshe.
5 Now the children of Israel were living among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites:
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And the Bnei Yisroel dwelt among the Kena’ani, Chitti, and Emori, and Perizzi, and Chivi, and Yevusi;
6 And they took as wives the daughters of these nations and gave their daughters to their sons, and became servants to their gods.
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And they took their banot to be their nashim, and gave their banot to their banim, and served their elohim.
7 And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and put out of their minds the Lord their God, and became servants to the Baals and the Astartes.
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And the Bnei Yisroel did evil in the sight of Hashem, and forgot Hashem Eloheihem, and served Baalim and the Asherot.
8 So the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel were his servants for eight years.
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Therefore the Af Hashem was hot against Yisroel, and He sold them into the yad Chushan Rishataim Melech Aram Naharayim [i.e., Upper Mesopotamia]; and the Bnei Yisroel served Chushan Rishataim eight years.
9 And when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
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And when the Bnei Yisroel cried unto Hashem, Hashem raised up a Moshia (Deliverer, Savior) to the Bnei Yisroel, who saved them, even Otniel ben Kenaz, Kalev’s younger brother.
10 And the spirit of the Lord came on him and he became judge of Israel, and went out to war, and the Lord gave up Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hands and he overcame him.
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And the Ruach [Hakodesh] of Hashem came upon him, and he judged Yisroel, and went out to milchamah; and Hashem delivered Chushan Rishataim Melech Aram into his yad; and his yad prevailed against Chushan Rishataim.
11 Then for forty years the land had peace, till the death of Othniel, the son of Kenaz.
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And the land had rest arba’im shanah. And Otniel ben Kenaz died.
12 Then the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord made Eglon, king of Moab, strong against Israel, because they had done evil in the Lord's eyes.
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And the Bnei Yisroel did rah again in the sight of Hashem; and Hashem strengthened Eglon Melech Moav against Yisroel, because they had done rah in the sight of Hashem.
13 And Eglon got together the people of Ammon and Amalek, and they went and overcame Israel and took the town of palm-trees.
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And he gathered unto him the Bnei Ammon and Amalek, and went and attacked Yisroel, and possessed the Ir HaTemarim.
14 And the children of Israel were servants to Eglon, king of Moab, for eighteen years.
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So the Bnei Yisroel served Eglon Melech Moav eighteen years.
15 Then when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man; and the children of Israel sent an offering by him to Eglon, king of Moab.
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But when the Bnei Yisroel cried unto Hashem, Hashem raised them up a Moshi’a, Ehud ben Gera, from the tribe of Binyamin, a man left-handed; and by him the Bnei Yisroel sent a minchah unto Eglon Melech Moav.
16 So Ehud made himself a two-edged sword, a cubit long, which he put on at his right side under his robe.
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But Ehud made him a cherev which had two edges of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.
17 And he took the offering to Eglon, king of Moab, who was a very fat man.
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And he brought the minchah unto Eglon Melech Moav; and Eglon was an ish bari me’od (very fat man).
18 And after giving the offering, he sent away the people who had come with the offering.
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And when he had made an end to offer the minchah, he sent away the people that carried the minchah (tribute).
19 But he himself, turning back from the stone images at Gilgal, said, I have something to say to you in secret, O king. And he said, Let there be quiet. Then all those who were waiting before him went out.
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But he himself turned back at the pesilim near Gilgal, and said, I have a devar seter (secret message) for thee O melech; he said, Keep silence! And all that stood by attending him went out from him.
20 Then Ehud came in to him while he was seated by himself in his summer-house. And Ehud said, I have a word from God for you. And he got up from his seat.
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And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in an aliyyat hamekerah (upper room for cooling), which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a devar Elohim unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.
21 And Ehud put out his left hand, and took the sword from his right side, and sent it into his stomach;
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And Ehud put forth his semol (left hand), and drew the cherev from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly;
22 And the hand-part went in after the blade, and the fat was joined up over the blade; for he did not take the sword out of his stomach. And he went out into the ...
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And even the hilt went in after the blade; and the chelev closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the cherev out of his belly; it came out the back.
23 Then Ehud went out into the covered way, shutting the doors of the summer-house on him and locking them.
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Then Ehud went forth through the front hall, and shut the daletot of the aliyyah behind him, and locked them.
24 Now when he had gone, the king's servants came, and saw that the doors of the summer-house were locked; and they said, It may be that he is in his summer-house for a private purpose.
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When he was gone out, his avadim came; and when they saw that, hinei, the daletot of the aliyyah were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet [i.e. relieves himself] in the chedar hamekerah (inner cool room).
25 And they went on waiting till they were shamed, but the doors were still shut; so they took the key, and, opening them, saw their lord stretched out dead on the floor.
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And they tarried till bosh (embarrassed); and, hinei, he opened not the daletot of the aliyyah; therefore they took a mafte’ach (key), and unlocked them; and, hinei, their adon was fallen on the floor dead.
26 But Ehud had got away while they were waiting and had gone past the stone images and got away to Seirah.
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And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the pesilim, and escaped unto Seirah.
27 And when he came there, he had a horn sounded in the hill-country of Ephraim, and all the children of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he at their head.
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And it came to pass, when he arrived, that he blew a shofar in the har Ephrayim, and the Bnei Yisroel went down with him from the har, and he before them.
28 And he said to them, Come after me; for the Lord has given the Moabites, your haters, into your hands. So they went down after him and took the crossing-places of Jordan against Moab, and let no one go across.
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And he said unto them, Follow after me; for Hashem hath delivered your enemies Moav into your yad. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Yarden toward Moav, and allowed not an ish to pass over.
29 At that time they put about ten thousand men of Moab to the sword, every strong man and every man of war; not a man got away.
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And they struck down Moav at that time about ten thousand ish, all strong ish chayil; and there escaped not an ish.
30 So Moab was broken that day under the hand of Israel. And for eighty years the land had peace.
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So Moav was subdued that day under the yad Yisroel. And HaAretz had rest fourscore shanah.
31 And after him came Shamgar, the son of Anath, who put to death six hundred Philistines with an ox-stick; and he was another saviour of Israel.
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And after him was Shamgar ben Anat, which struck down of the Pelishtim (Philistines) six hundred ish with an ox goad; and he also saved Yisroel.
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The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.