Judges 3:13-23

13 And he gathered unto him the sons of Ammon and of Amalek and went and smote Israel and took the city of palm trees.
14 So the sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
15 But when the sons of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a saviour, Ehud, the son of Gera, a son of Jemini, {Benjamin} a man, who had his right hand impeded, and by him the sons of Israel sent a present unto Eglon, the king of Moab.
16 But Ehud had made himself a two-edged sword of a cubit length, and he girded it under his clothing upon his right thigh.
17 And he brought the present unto Eglon, king of Moab, and Eglon was a very fat man.
18 And when he had offered the present, he sent away the people that had brought the present.
19 But he, himself turned again from the graven images that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret word for thee, O king, who then said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.
20 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 word from God unto thee. Then he arose out of his seat.
21 But Ehud put forth his left hand and took the sword from his right thigh and thrust it into Eglon’s belly;
22 in such a manner that 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 excrement came out.
23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch and shut the doors of the parlour upon him and locked them.

Judges 3:13-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 3

This chapter gives an account of the nations left in Canaan to prove Israel, and who became a snare unto them, Jud 3:1-7; and of the servitude of Israel under the king of Mesopotamia for their sins, from which they were delivered by Othniel, Jud 3:8-11; and of their subjection to the Moabites, from which they were freed by Ehud, who privately assassinated the king of Moab, and then made his escape, Jud 3:12-30; and of the destruction of a large number of Philistines by Shamgar, with an ox goad, Jud 3:31.

The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010