Judges
Judges 3
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Judges 3 — Scripture text (King James Version)
Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove by them, even as many of as had not known all the wars of ; Only that the generations of the children of might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; Namely, five lords of the , and all the , and the , and the that dwelt in mount , from mount -hermon unto the entering in of . And they were to prove by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of . And the children of dwelt among the , , and , and , and , and : And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. And the children of did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served and the groves. Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against , and he sold them into the hand of -rishathaim king of : and the children of served -rishathaim eight years. And when the children of cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of , who delivered them, even the son of , Caleb’s younger brother. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged , and went out to war: and the LORD delivered -rishathaim king of into his hand; and his hand prevailed against -rishathaim. And the land had rest forty years. And the son of died. And the children of did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened the king of against , because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. And he gathered unto him the children of and , and went and smote , and possessed the city of trees. So the children of served the king of eighteen years. But when the children of cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of , a , a man lefthanded: and by him the children of sent a present unto the king of . But made him a dagger which had two edges, of a length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. And he brought the present unto king of : and was a very fat man. And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by , and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. And came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. And forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: And 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 dirt came out. Then went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them. When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead the earth. And escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto . And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a in the mountain of , and the children of went down with him from the mount, and he before them. And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of toward , and suffered not a man to pass over. And they slew of at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man. So was subdued that day under the hand of . And the land had rest fourscore years. And after him was the son of , which slew of the six hundred men with an goad: and he also delivered .