1
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These are the nations that GOD left there, using them to test the Israelites who had no experience in the Canaanite wars. |
2
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He did it to train the descendants of Israel, the ones who had no battle experience, in the art of war. |
3
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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
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They were there to test Israel and see whether they would obey GOD's commands that were given to their parents through Moses. |
5
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But the People of Israel made themselves at home among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. |
6
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They married their daughters and gave their own daughters to their sons in marriage. And they worshiped their gods. |
7
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The People of Israel did evil in GOD's sight. They forgot their GOD and worshiped the Baal gods and Asherah goddesses. |
8
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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
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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. |
10
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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. |
11
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The land was quiet for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died. |
12
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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
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He recruited the Ammonites and Amalekites and went out and struck Israel. They took the City of Palms. |
14
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The People of Israel were in servitude to Eglon fourteen years. |
15
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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
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Ehud made himself a short two-edged sword and strapped it on his right thigh under his clothes. |
17
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He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Eglon was grossly fat. |
18
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After Ehud finished presenting the tribute, he went a little way with the men who had carried it. |
19
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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
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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
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Ehud reached with his left hand and took his sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's big belly. |
22
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Not only the blade but the hilt went in. The fat closed in over it so he couldn't pull it out. |
23
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Ehud slipped out by way of the porch and shut and locked the doors of the rooftop room behind him. |
24
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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
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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
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While they were standing around wondering what to do, Ehud was long gone. He got past the stone images and escaped to Seirah. |
27
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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
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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
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At that time, they struck down about ten companies of Moabites, all of them well-fed and robust. Not one escaped. |
30
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That day Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel. The land was quiet for eighty years. |
31
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Shamgar son of Anath came after Ehud. Using a cattle prod, he killed six hundred Philistines single-handed. He too saved Israel. |
Judges 3:28 English Language Bible Words basic statistical display
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