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Judges

Describes a time when Israel was ruled by judges and the cycle of turning away from God, facing trouble, and then returning to Him.

Chapter 3

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1 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;

*Now, these are the nations that the Lord didn't eliminate. He did this to test Israel using them. It was for the benefit of those Israelites who hadn't experienced all the wars in Canaan.

2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;

*So that the children of Israel's generations would learn, teaching them about war, even those who didn't know anything about it before.

3 Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.

*This verse means: Specifically, it includes five leaders from the Philistine group, along with all people living in Canaan, Sidon, and the mountain area called Lebanon. This goes from a place named Mount Baalhermon to where Hamath begins.

4 And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

*This verse means that God used these events to test Israel and see if they would listen to His rules given through Moses.

5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:

*The Israelite children lived with the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

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

*So, they let their daughters marry, and their sons married the daughters. They also kept worshiping their own gods.

7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.

*The children of Israel did wrong, forgetting God, and instead worshiped Baal and groves.

8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.

*So, God was very angry with Israel, and he let them be controlled by a foreign king named Chushanrishathaim. The people of Israel had to serve this king for eight years.

9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

*When the Israelites called out to God, God chose a savior for them - Othniel, the son of Kenaz and brother of Caleb, who saved them from danger.

10 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim.

*The Holy Spirit gave the person power to rule over Israel and go to battle. God helped this person defeat King Chushanrishathaim of Mesopotamia, and the person was successful in the fight.

11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

*The land was peaceful for 40 years. Then Othniel, son of Kenaz, passed away.

12 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.

*The children of Israel did something wrong again, which made God unhappy. So, God made Eglon, the ruler of Moab, stronger against Israel because they were being bad.

13 And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.

*He brought together the kids of Ammon and Amalek and then attacked Israel, taking over the city with lots of palm trees.

14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

*Thus, the Israelite kids were under the rule of Eglon, the ruler of Moab, for a period of 18 years.

15 But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.

*But when the Israelites called out to God, God saved them by sending a rescuer named Ehud, who was the son of Gera and from the tribe of Benjamin. He was left-handed. With him, the Israelites sent a gift to King Eglon of Moab.

16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.

*But Ehud created a double-edged dagger that was as long as a forearm. He hid it under his clothes on his right hip.

17 And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.

*He gave a gift to King Eglon of Moab, who was very overweight.

18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.

*When he finished presenting the gift, he sent away the people carrying it.

19 But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, 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.

*But he went back from the stone-mines near Gilgal and told the king, I have a private task for you; the king replied, Don't say anything. Everyone nearby left the area.

20 And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.

*Ehud approached him while he was sitting in a sunny room by himself. Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." Then, he got up from his chair.

21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:

*Ehud reached out his left hand and grabbed a knife from his right leg. He then stabbed the person in their stomach.

22 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.

*The handle entered after the sharp part, and the fat covered the sharp part, so he couldn't pull the knife out of his stomach; and the waste came out.

23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.

*Then Ehud left the entrance and closed the room door behind him, locking it securely.

24 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.

*When he left, his helpers arrived and noticed the living room doors were locked, so they thought he was probably in his summer room resting.

25 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 on the earth.

*So they waited until they felt embarrassed because he didn't open the room doors. They got a key and unlocked the doors, only to find that their boss had sadly passed away on the ground.

26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.

*Ehud fled while they took their time, went past the rock-cutting places, and reached safety at a place called Seirath.

27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them.

*When he arrived, he blew a horn on Ephraim's mountain, and the Israelites followed him down from the mountain, with him leading the way.

28 And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over.

*He told them, "Follow me because God has given your enemies, the Moabites, into your control." They went with him, captured the crossings of the Jordan River towards Moab, and didn't let anyone cross.

29 And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man.

*At that time, they killed around ten thousand strong and brave Moab men. None of them escaped.

30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.

*So, on that day, Moab was defeated by Israel. For 80 years, the land had peace.

31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.

*After that, Shamgar, son of Anath, a man who defeated 600 Philistines using an ox goad, saved Israel.

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