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.

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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 Century Version NCV

1 These are the nations the Lord did not force to leave. He wanted to test the Israelites who had not fought in the wars of Canaan.

2 (The only reason the Lord left those nations in the land was to teach the descendants of the Israelites who had not fought in those wars how to fight.)

3 These are the nations: the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the people of Sidon, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.

4 Those nations were in the land to test the Israelites -- to see if they would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors by Moses.

5 The people of Israel lived with the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

6 The Israelites began to marry the daughters of those people, and they allowed their daughters to marry the sons of those people. Israel also served their gods. Othniel, the First Judge

7 The Israelites did what the Lord said was wrong. They forgot about the Lord their God and served the idols of Baal and Asherah.

8 So the Lord was angry with Israel and allowed Cushan-Rishathaim king of Northwest Mesopotamia to rule over the Israelites for eight years.

9 When Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord sent someone to save them. Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, saved the Israelites.

10 The Spirit of the Lord entered Othniel, and he became Israel's judge. When he went to war, the Lord handed over to him Cushan-Rishathaim king of Northwest Mesopotamia.

11 So the land was at peace for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died. Ehud, the Judge

12 Again the people of Israel did what the Lord said was wrong. So the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power to defeat Israel because of the evil Israel did.

13 Eglon got the Ammonites and the Amalekites to join him. Then he attacked Israel and took Jericho, the city of palm trees.

14 So the people of Israel were ruled by Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.

15 When the people cried to the Lord, he sent someone to save them. He was Ehud, son of Gera from the people of Benjamin, who was left-handed. Israel sent Ehud to give Eglon king of Moab the payment he demanded.

16 Ehud made himself a sword with two edges, about eighteen inches long, and he tied it to his right hip under his clothes.

17 Ehud gave Eglon king of Moab the payment he demanded. Now Eglon was a very fat man.

18 After he had given Eglon the payment, Ehud sent away the people who had carried it.

19 When he passed the statues near Gilgal, he turned around and said to Eglon, "I have a secret message for you, King Eglon." The king said, "Be quiet!" Then he sent all of his servants out of the room.

20 Ehud went to King Eglon, as he was sitting alone in the room above his summer palace. Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." As the king stood up from his chair,

21 Ehud reached with his left hand and took out the sword that was tied to his right hip. Then he stabbed the sword deep into the king's belly!

22 Even the handle sank in, and the blade came out his back. The king's fat covered the whole sword, so Ehud left the sword in Eglon.

23 Then he went out of the room and closed and locked the doors behind him.

24 When the servants returned just after Ehud left, they found the doors to the room locked. So they thought the king was relieving himself.

25 They waited for a long time. Finally they became worried because he still had not opened the doors. So they got the key and unlocked them and saw their king lying dead on the floor!

26 While the servants were waiting, Ehud had escaped. He passed by the statues and went to Seirah.

27 When he reached the mountains of Ephraim he blew the trumpet. The people of Israel heard it and went down from the hills with Ehud leading them.

28 He said to them, "Follow me! The Lord has helped you to defeat your enemies, the Moabites." So Israel followed Ehud and captured the crossings of the Jordan River. They did not allow the Moabites to cross the Jordan River.

29 Israel killed about ten thousand strong and able men from Moab; not one escaped.

30 So that day Moab was forced to be under the rule of Israel, and there was peace in the land for eighty years. Shamgar, the Judge

31 After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath saved Israel. Shamgar killed six hundred Philistines with a sharp stick used to guide oxen. Deborah, the Woman Judge