Judges 3:12-30

Ehud Delivers Israel from Moab

¹² and the sons of Israel add to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah; and Jehovah strengtheneth Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because that they have done the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah; ¹³ and he gathereth unto him the Bene-Ammon and Amalek, and goeth and smiteth Israel, and they possess the city of palms; ¹⁴ and the sons of Israel serve Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. ¹⁵ And the sons of Israel cry unto Jehovah, and Jehovah raiseth to them a saviour, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjamite (a man—shut of his right hand), and the sons of Israel send by his hand a present to Eglon king of Moab; ¹⁶ and Ehud maketh for himself a sword, and it hath two mouths (a cubit 'is' its length), and he girdeth it under his long robe on his right thigh; ¹⁷ and he bringeth near the present to Eglon king of Moab, and Eglon 'is' a very fat man. ¹⁸ And it cometh to pass, when he hath finished to bring near the present, that he sendeth away the people bearing the present, ¹⁹ and he himself hath turned back from the graven images which 'are' at Gilgal, and saith, 'A secret word I have unto thee, O king;' and he saith, 'Hush!' and go out from him do all those standing by him. ²⁰ And Ehud hath come unto him, and he is sitting in the upper chamber of the wall which he hath for himself, and Ehud saith, 'A word of God I have unto thee;' and he riseth from off the throne; ²¹ and Ehud putteth forth his left hand, and taketh the sword from off his right thigh, and striketh it into his belly; ²² and the haft also goeth in after the blade, and the fat shutteth on the blade, that he hath not drawn the sword out of his belly, and it goeth out at the fundament. ²³ And Ehud goeth out at the porch, and shutteth the doors of the upper chamber upon him, and hath bolted 'it'; ²⁴ and he hath gone out, and his servants have come in, and look, and lo, the doors of the upper chamber are bolted, and they say, 'He is only covering his feet in the inner chamber of the wall.' ²⁵ And they stay till confounded, and lo, he is not opening the doors of the upper chamber, and they take the key, and open, and lo, their lord is fallen to the earth—dead. ²⁶ And Ehud escaped during their tarrying, and hath passed by the images, and is escaped to Seirath. ²⁷ And it cometh to pass, in his coming in, that he bloweth with a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim, and go down with him do the sons of Israel from the hill-country, and he before them; ²⁸ and he saith unto them, 'Pursue after me, for Jehovah hath given your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand;' and they go down after him, and capture the passages of the Jordan towards Moab, and have not permitted a man to pass over. ²⁹ And they smite Moab at that time, about ten thousand men, all robust, and every one a man of valour, and not a man hath escaped, ³⁰ and Moab is humbled in that day under the hand of Israel; and the land resteth eighty years.