The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 These are the nations that God left there, using them to test the Israelites who had no experience in the Canaanite wars.
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Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
2 He did it to train the descendants of Israel, the ones who had no battle experience, in the art of war.
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Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;
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.
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Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.
4 They were there to test Israel and see whether they would obey God's commands that were given to their parents through Moses.
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And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5 But the People of Israel made themselves at home among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
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And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:
6 They married their daughters and gave their own daughters to their sons in marriage. And they worshiped their gods.
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And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served 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.
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And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
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.
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Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim 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.
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And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
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And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim.
11 The land was quiet for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.
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And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the 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.
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And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.
13 He recruited the Ammonites and Amalekites and went out and struck Israel. They took the City of Palms.
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And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.
14 The People of Israel were in servitude to Eglon fourteen years.
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So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen 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.
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But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.
16 Ehud made himself a short two-edged sword and strapped it on his right thigh under his clothes.
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But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.
17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Eglon was grossly fat.
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And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.
18 After Ehud finished presenting the tribute, he went a little way with the men who had carried it.
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And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.
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.
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But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.
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.
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And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.
21 Ehud reached with his left hand and took his sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's big belly.
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And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:
22 Not only the blade but the hilt went in. The fat closed in over it so he couldn't pull it out.
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And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.
23 Ehud slipped out by way of the porch and shut and locked the doors of the rooftop room behind him.
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Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.
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."
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When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber.
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!
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And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.
26 While they were standing around wondering what to do, Ehud was long gone. He got past the stone images and escaped to Seirah.
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And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.
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.
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And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them.
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.
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And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over.
29 At that time, they struck down about ten companies of Moabites, all of them well-fed and robust. Not one escaped.
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And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man.
30 That day Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel. The land was quiet for eighty years.
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So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.
31 Shamgar son of Anath came after Ehud. Using a cattle prod, he killed six hundred Philistines single-handed. He too saved Israel.
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And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The King James Version is in the public domain.