The people falling into idolatry are oppressed by their enemies; but repenting are delivered by Othoniel, Aod, and Samgar.

¹ These are the nations which the Lord left, so that by them he might instruct Israel and all who had not known the wars of the Canaanites,

² so that afterward their sons might learn to contend with their enemies, and to have a willingness to do battle:

³ the five princes of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who were living on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-Hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath.

⁴ And he left them, so that by them he might test Israel, as to whether or not they would listen to the commandments of the Lord, which he instructed to their fathers by the hand of Moses.

⁵ And so, the sons of Israel lived in the midst of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

⁶ And they took their daughters as wives, and they gave their own daughters to their sons, and they served their gods.

⁷ And they did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they forgot their God, while serving the Baals and Ashtaroth.

⁸ And the Lord, having become angry with Israel, delivered them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim, the king of Mesopotamia, and they served him for eight years.¹

1. 3:8Mesopotamia: In Hebrew Aramnaharim. Syria of the two rivers: so called because it lies between the Euphrates and the Tigris. It is absolutely called Syria, ver. 10.(Challoner)

⁹ And they cried out to the Lord, who raised up for them a savior, and he freed them, namely, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, a younger brother of Caleb.

¹⁰ And the Spirit of the Lord was in him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to fight, and the Lord delivered Cushan-Rishathaim, the king of Syria, and he overwhelmed him.

¹¹ And the land was quiet for forty years. And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died.

¹² Then the sons of Israel resumed doing evil in the sight of the Lord, who strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against them because they did evil in his sight.

¹³ And he joined to him the sons of Ammon and the sons of Amalek. And he went forth and struck Israel, and he possessed the City of Palms.

¹⁴ And the sons of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, for eighteen years.

¹⁵ And afterward, they cried out to the Lord, who raised up for them a savior, called Ehud, the son of Gera, the son of Benjamin, who used either hand as well as the right hand. And the sons of Israel sent gifts to Eglon, the king of Moab, by him.

¹⁶ And he made for himself a two-edged sword, having a handle, reaching to the middle, the length of the palm of a hand. And he was girded with it under his cloak, on the right thigh.

¹⁷ And he offered the gifts to Eglon, the king of Moab. Now Eglon was exceedingly fat.

¹⁸ And when he had presented the gifts to him, he followed out his companions, who had arrived with him.

¹⁹ And then, returning from Gilgal where the idols were, he said to the king, “I have a secret word for you, O king.” And he ordered silence. And when all those who were around him had departed,¹

1. 3:19Ehud presented the gifts to the king. Then he followed the companions of the king as they left the presence of the king to go out to Gilgal, where the idols were. They were perhaps thanking their gods for a successful visit with the king. Since Ehud was returning from Gilgal, the king may have assumed that Ehud had received some kind of message from the idols (the pagan gods) there. Thus he was willing to listen to Ehud alone.(Conte)

²⁰ Ehud entered to him. Now he was sitting alone in a summer upper room. And he said, “I have a word from God to you.” And immediately he rose up from his throne.¹

1. 3:20A word from God, etc: What Aod, who was judge and chief magistrate of Israel, did on this occasion, was by a special inspiration of God: but such things are not to be imitated by private men.(Challoner)

²¹ And Ehud extended his left hand, and he took the dagger from his right thigh. And he thrust it into his abdomen

²² so strongly that the handle followed the blade into the wound, and was enclosed by the great amount of fat. Neither did he withdraw the sword. Instead, he left it in the body just as he had struck with it. And immediately, by the private parts of nature, the filth of the bowels went out.

²³ Then Ehud carefully closed the doors of the upper room. And securing the bars,

²⁴ he departed by a back exit. And the servants of the king, entering, saw that the doors of the upper room were closed, and they said, “Perhaps he is emptying his bowels in the summer room.”¹

1. 3:24The servants drew this conclusion because of the locked door and the smell.(Conte)

²⁵ And after waiting a long time, until they were embarrassed, and seeing that no one opened the door, they took the key, and opening it, they found their lord lying dead on the ground.

²⁶ But Ehud, while they were in confusion, escaped and passed by the place of the idols, from which he had returned. And he arrived at Seirath.

²⁷ And immediately he sounded the trumpet on Mount Ephraim. And the sons of Israel descended with him, he himself advancing at the front.

²⁸ And he said to them: “Follow me. For the Lord has delivered our enemies, the Moabites, into our hands.” And they descended after him, and they occupied the fords of the Jordan, which cross over to Moab. And they did not permit anyone to cross.

²⁹ And so, they struck down the Moabites at that time, about ten thousand, all strong and robust men. None of them were able to escape.

³⁰ And Moab was humbled in that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was quiet for eighty years.

³¹ After him, there was Shamgar, the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred men of the Philistines with a plowshare. And he also defended Israel.