1These are the nations that the LORD left in the land. He used them to test Israel, that is, all those in Israel who had not known any of the wars in Canaan.
2He did this only so that the generations of the children of Israel might learn war, at least those who had known nothing of it before.
3These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baalhermon to the entrance of Hamath.
4They were left to test Israel, to find out whether the people would listen to the commandments of the LORD, which he had given to their fathers through Moses.
5So the children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
6They took their daughters as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and the groves.
8So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia. The children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim for eight years.
9When the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a rescuer for them, who set them free. He was Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
10The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel and went out to war. The LORD gave Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, and his hand was strong against Chushanrishathaim.
11So the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
12The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD made Eglon the king of Moab strong against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.
13Eglon gathered the children of Ammon and Amalek to himself. He went and struck Israel, and took the city of palm trees.
14So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab for eighteen years.
15But when the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a rescuer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a left-handed man. By him the children of Israel sent a gift to Eglon the king of Moab.
16Ehud made himself a dagger with two edges, a cubit long. He strapped it under his clothes on his right thigh.
17He brought the gift to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.
18When Ehud had finished presenting the gift, he sent away the people who had carried it.
19But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king." The king said, "Be quiet." And all those standing by him went out.
20Ehud came to him while he was sitting alone in his cool upper room. Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." And the king got up from his seat.
21Then Ehud reached out with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.
22The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, so that he could not pull the dagger out of his belly. And the dirt came out.
23Then Ehud went out through the porch. He shut the doors of the room behind him and locked them.
24When he had gone, the king's servants came. They saw that the doors of the room were locked, and they said, "He must be covering his feet in his cool room."
25They waited until they were ashamed. He still did not open the doors of the room, so they took a key and opened them. And there was their lord, fallen down dead on the ground.
26While they waited, Ehud escaped. He passed beyond the quarries and escaped to Seirath.
27When he arrived, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. The children of Israel went down with him from the hills, and he went ahead of them.
28He said to them, "Follow me, for the LORD has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand." So they went down after him. They took the fords of Jordan that led to Moab, and let no one cross over.
29At that time they killed about ten thousand men of Moab, all strong men and all men of valour. Not one man escaped.
30So Moab was brought down that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.
31After him came Shamgar the son of Anath. He killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad, and he too rescued Israel.